Impacts of bone on the worst-case configuration for orthopedic implants under 1.5T and 3T MRI

Due to the differences in both electrical and thermal properties, the RF-induced heating from implantable devices under MRI can have different behaviors inside muscle-like tissue and bone. A locally modified ASTM phantom with bone tissue was developed in the study. Simulations were used in the study to determine the worst-case heating configurations in the original and the modified ASTM phantoms. Based on our study, it was observed that the worst-case heating configuration can be altered when the devices are implanted in/near bone tissues. Consequently, additional in-vivo modeling would be required to understand the clinically relevant RF-induced heating.