EM and Thermal Validation of a Numerical Elliptical Birdcage at 3T

Mlina Bouldi¹, Jan M. Warnking¹, ²

Understanding the risks of overheating due to the presence of active implants requires a rigorous simulation of experimental conditions. We built a numerical elliptical birdcage model of the whole body transmit coil in a Philips Achieva TX system, using the SEMCAD X software (Speag). The resonator was tuned to 128MHz. The simulated current density distribution, B1 map and temperature changes qualitatively agree with the theoretically predicted and experimentally observed behavior. Quantitative differences remain. Our method of validation, permits to assess the validity of the resonator model, and paves the way for a realistic numerical elliptic resonator model.