Rapid Estimation of Conductivity & Permittivity using Bloch-Siegert B1 Mapping at 3.0T

Selaka Bandara Bulumulla¹, Seung-Kyun Lee¹, Teck Beng Desmond Yeo¹, W. Thomas Dixon¹, Thomas K. Foo¹

Tissue conductivity and permittivity are critical to estimating local RF power deposition in the human body during MR imaging. These electrical properties may also have diagnostic value as malignant tissue types have shown higher permittivity and conductivity than surrounding healthy tissue. In this work, we explore rapid estimation of conductivity and permittivity using Bloch-Siegert B1 mapping at 3.0T. In a 24cm axial plane FOV, 128x128 resolution, permittivity was obtained in approximately 1 min. Obtaining conductivity required an additional 1min.