It is common practice to perform full-wave electromagnetic
modeling to characterize RF transmit coils and establish safety parameters
limiting power and SAR to comply with guidelines for pre-clinical use with
human volunteers. Currently-available female voxel models are unsuitable for
simulating the filling factor of breast coils designed for women in the prone
position. Accurate breast modeling is further confounded by variability of
lipid and fibroglandular tissues, with modeling implications owing to disparate
conductivity and permittivity values. This work presents simulations at 7T
using high-resolution, anatomically-correct breast phantoms exhibiting varying
proportions of fatty and fibroglandular tissues, as well as breast tissue
girth, length, and positioning within the RF coil, demonstrating the effects of these variables in
projected SAR for breast imaging.
