Search

The alveolar air-tissue interface affects the lung NMR signal, because it results in a susceptibility-induced magnetic field inhomogeneity. The air-tissue interface effect can be detected and quantified by measuring the difference signal (Delta) from a pair of NMR images obtained using temporally symmetric and asymmetric spin-echo sequences. The present study describes a multicompartment alveolar model (consisting of a collection of noninteracting spherical water shells) that simulates the behavior of Delta as a function of the level of lung inflation and can be used to predict the NMR response to various types of lung injury. The model was used to predict Delta as a function of the inflation level (with the assumption of sequential alveolar recruitment, partly parallel to distension) and to simulate pulmonary edema by deriving equations that describe Delta for a collection of spherical shells representing combinations of collapsed, flooded, and inflated alveoli. Our theoretical data were compared with those provided by other models and with experimental data obtained from the literature. Our results suggest that NMR Delta measurements can be used to study the mechanisms underlying the lung pressure-volume behavior, to characterize lung injury, and to assess the contributions of alveolar recruitment and distension to the lung volume changes in response to the application of positive airway pressure (e.g., positive end-expiratory pressure).

Calculations are presented of the induced electric fields and current densities in the cartilage of the knee produced by a coil applicator developed for applying pulsed magnetic fields to osteoarthritic knees. This applicator produces a sawtooth-like magnetic field waveform composed of a series of 260-μs pulses with a peak to peak magnitude of approximately 0.12 mT in the cartilage region. The simulations were performed using a recently developed 3 dimensional finite difference frequency domain technique for solving Maxwell's equations with an equivalent circuit model. The tissue model was obtained from the anatomically segmented human body model of Gandhi. The temporal peak electric field magnitude was found to be −153 mV/m, averaged within the medial cartilage of the knee for the typical dB/dt excitation levels of this coil. The technique can be extended to analyze other excitation waveforms and applicator designs. Bioelectromagnetics 22:224–231, 2001. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Electric (E) fields induced near metal implants by MRI switched-gradient magnetic fields are calculated by a new equivalent-circuit numerical technique. Induced E-field results are found for a metallic spinal-fusion implant consisting of two thin wires connected to the metallic case of a current generator as well as for its subsections: a bare U-shaped wire, an insulated U-shaped wire, a cut insulated wire, and a generator. The presence of the metallic implants perturbs the E field significantly. Near the ends of the bare U-shaped wire, the E field is 89.7 times larger than in the absence of the wire. The greatest E field concentration occurs near the ends of the cut insulated wire, where the E field is 196.7 times greater than in the absence of the wire. In all cases, the perturbation of the induced E field by the implanted wire is highly localized within a few diameters of the wire.

It is well known that pulmonary edema is, in general, spatially nonuniform. Since the NMR spin-lattice relaxation time (T1) is increased by lung edema, the spatial distribution of T1 will be nonuniform. When the repetition time (TR) is short relative to the T1 of edematous lung, lung water content will be underestimated and this underestimation will be spatially nonuniform as well. Therefore, technical artifacts which are a complex function of lung edema and its spatial distribution are expected. We compared overall and regional (topographic) lung water density measurements obtained from living rats (with normal or edematous lungs) using repetition times of 2.0 and 6.2 s (at a magnetic field of 1 T), to quantify this uneven T1 effect for normal and edematous lungs. NMR measurements at TR = 2.0 s underestimated whole lung water density (ρ―H2O) (at TR = 6.2 s) by an average of 7.2% in normal rats and 22.5% in rats with pulmonary edema. Regional ρ―H2O underestimation (%Δρ―H2O) varied from 2.2 to 8.8% (group means) in normal lungs and from 7.3 to 30.8% in edematous lungs. As a result, the interquartile range (of the voxel distribution as a function of pH2O) underestimated the spatial nonuniformity of lung water density by 28.0% in edematous lungs, likely because of greater loss of NMR signal from high-water-density, long-T1 lung regions. Both %ΔpH2O and T1, were significantly correlated with ρ―H2O at TR = 6.2 s. Artifactual distortion of the spatial distribution of NMR signal intensity cannot be predicted from average T1 values characterizing the whole lung, but rather requires a knowledge of the spatial distribution of T1. © 1989 Academic Press, Inc.

The electric fields and power deposition patterns generated in two-dimensional inhomogenous models exposed to the axially directed uniform magnetic fields of an infinitely long solenoid are calculated numerically. The fields are calculated using the method of moments (Galerkin procedure) with linear basis and weighting functions. This low-frequency analysis is useful for studying the power deposition patterns attributable to solenoidal inductive applicators operated at frequencies up to 13.56 MHz. For the models we have studied, the ratio of power per volume deposited into the tumor to power per volume deposited into the immediately surrounding tissue is largest for tumors in the lung, although the power per volume deposited into the outermost layer is still much larger than the power per volume deposited into the tumor; it may be possible, however, to cool this region adequately from the body surface. When the complex permittivity of the tumor model is similar to that of the region in which it is embedded, the currents in the torso and tumor circulate primarily around the center of the body, as has been previously calculated for concentric cylinders. When the complex permittivity of the tumor is much greater than the region in which it is embedded, the currents in the tumor circulate primarily around the center of the tumor.

Experimental results for the average specific absorption rate (SAR) in scaled spheroidal phantoms of human and animal models exposed to near-field radiation are presented. Prolate spheroidal phantoms filled with saline solution simulating muscle tissue were used to measure average SAR values in different models. To control the exposure conditions, simple sources of known radiation characteristics, namely, short electric dipoles, were used. The accuracy of the experimental procedure was evaluated by making several average SAR measuremens at large distances (0.6 ?) from the dipole. The results obtained are found to be in good agreement with those available in the Radiofrequency Radiation Dosimetry Handbook [2]. Near-field SAR measurements for different models are presented as a function of the distance from the source. It is shown that even for the complex radiation fields in the near zone of the source, the average SAR below the resonance frequency can be explained in tenns of the magnitude and direction of the incident fields in the same way that the plane wave absorption characteristics are explained.

NMR imaging techniques are applicable to the assessment of lung water content and distribution because the NMR signal is, under certain conditions, proportional to tissue proton density. NMR imaging is noninvasive, easily repeatable, free from ionizing radiation, and particularly suitable for the assessment of spatial lung water distribution. Lung water content and distribution have been estimated in excised animal lungs and in intact dead or living animals, under normal conditions and in various types of experimental pulmonary edema. Excised human lungs and human subjects have also been studied. Published data indicate that measurements of lung water content by NMR imaging techniques are feasible. These techniques estimate lung water spatial distribution with satisfactory accuracy and excellent resolving power. The application of NMR imaging techniques poses several problems and limitations, but available data suggest that most of the problems can be solved. NMR imaging has the potential to become a powerful tool for lung water research. Prospects of clinical application are also encouraging; numerous applications can be foreseen, although lack of mobility of NMR imaging systems may be a significant limitation in critical care medicine.

A numerical procedure to simulate several physiological and geometrical changes occurring during development of edema and to study their effects on the sensitivity of the microwave detection method is presented. The method of solution utilizes a model which consists of a two-dimensional cross section of a thorax. The model is based on an X-ray CAT scan taken with the microwave applicators in place. The electromagnetic boundary value problem is then solved numerically using the method of moments. Numerical results are presented to show the effects of several parameters, such as the uneven water distribution in the lung, the field distribution in the aperture of the microwave transmitter, and the location of the receiver on the sensitivity of the microwave detection method. Based on these results, several suggestions are made to help optimize the sensitivity of the microwave method of measuring changes in lung water content.

A surface integral equation (SIE) method is used to calculate the specific absorption rate (SAR) in spherically capped cylindrical models irradiated by an axially incident electromagnetic plane wave (K polarization) in a frequency range for which calculations previously have not been available (80-400 MHz for man models). In the SIE method, the electromagnetic (EM) field relations are formulated in terms of electric and magnetic currents on the surface of the model. The average SAR is calculated from the far scattered EM fields by means of the forward scattering theorem. SAR data calculated by the SIE method agree with data calculated by the extended boundary condition method (EBCM) for frequencies up to 80 MHz (the upper frequency limit of the EBCM) for man models. For rat models exposed to 1-3 GHz radiation, reasonable agreement was also obtained with the limited experimental data available.

In less than two decades. NMR techniques have become an established diagnostic tool, primarily because of the rapid development of NMR imaging more commonly termed magnetic resonance imaging, (MRI) in diagnostic radiology

The potential of using low intensity penetrating microwave energy in diagnosis and monitoring of pulmonary diseases such as edema and emphysema has been investigated theoretically and in selected animal models. These diseases are characterized by changes in total lung water which modify the permittivity and conductivity of the lung tissue, and consequently affect the microwave reflection from or transmission through the lung. Both reflection and transmission measurement techniques have been examined. Animal experiments have indicated changes in microwave reflection with lung water changes. The diagnostic capabilities of transmission measurements have been evaluated experimentally on a phantom model, and theoretically on a planelayered tissue model.

Two microwave methods for measuring changes in lung water content have been investigated. The first is based on measuring changes in the phase of an active microwave signal transmitted through the thorax, while the other is based on measuring the natural microwave radiation emitted by the body with a radiometer. The feasibility of using the active microwave method is investigated by making measurements on phantoms, on anesthetized dogs with induced pulmonary edema, and on isolated dog lungs. The obtained results clearly illustrated that the method is sensitive enough to measure small changes in lung water content. In the radiometer method, on the other hand, both calculations and preliminary measurements in phantoms indicate that the natural microwave emission changes with lung water content and that conventional radiometry systems should be able to detect as little as three to four percent change in lung water content. Initial results from both methods, therefore, indicate the soundness of the basic ideas and justify further development of these methods for clinical use.

Irradiation of prolate spheroidal models of biological models by the near fields of electrically small apertures is analyzed. The solution procedure involves the replacement of the aperture source by an equivalent configuration of electric and magnetic dipoles. The specific absorption rate (SAR) induced in the irradiated object is then calculated using the extended boundary condition method (EBCM). Numerical results are presented for the exposure case where the incident electric field at the spheroid location is parallel to the major axis of the model. This polarization is associated with the maximum low-frequency absorption in biological models and, hence, is the most important polarization case in microwave dosimetry.