SAR estimations of pregnant woman during MR imaging for abdomen by numerical calculations

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an effective method for diagnosis of diseases. During the imaging, the radio frequency (RF) coil, which is one of the important units in the system, radiates electromagnetic (EM) pulses to the human body and in response receives the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signals emitted from the body. Therefore, it is necessary to estimate the specific absorption rate (SAR) in the human body due to the radiated EM energy from the RF coils. Especially, in this study, SAR distributions in the abdomen of pregnant woman and her fetus are investigated by the finite difference time domain (FDTD) calculations. As a result of the calculations, the SAR distributions inside the mother’s body and the fetus are cleared.