B1-based specific energy absorption rate determination for nonquadrature radiofrequency excitation

The current gold standard to estimate local and global specific energy absorption rate for MRI involves numerically modeling the patient and the transmit radiofrequency coil. Recently, a patient-individual method was presented, which estimated specific energy absorption rate from individually measured B(1) maps. This method, however, was restricted to quadrature volume coils due to difficulties distinguishing phase contributions from radiofrequency transmission and reception. In this study, a method separating these two phase contributions by comparing the electric conductivity reconstructed from different transmit channels of a parallel radiofrequency transmission system is presented. This enables specific energy absorption rate estimation not only for quadrature excitation but also for the nonquadrature excitation of the single elements of the transmit array. Though the contributions of the different phases are known, unknown magnetic field components and tissue boundary artifacts limit the technique. Nevertheless, the high agreement between simulated and experimental results found in this study is promising. B(1)-based specific energy absorption rate determination might become possible for arbitrary radiofrequency excitation on a patient-individual basis.