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<td style="direction: ltr; width: 602px; height: 1108px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><img alt="Dissertation Defense Announcement at the Cullen College of Engineering" width="600" height="171" style="width: 600px; height: 171px;" src="https://www.egr.uh.edu/sites/www.egr.uh.edu/files/enews/2022/images/dissertation1.png"></span>
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<b>MRI Safety Concerns: Anatomy Impacts on Radiofrequency Induced Heating and Implant Impacts on Gradient Induced Peripheral Nerve Stimulation Threshold</b></div>
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<b>Xiaolin Yang</b></div>
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">April 16, 2024; 9:00 AM - 11:00 AM (CST)<br>
Location: ECE Large Conference Room, Eng Bld 1<br>
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>Committee Chair:</b><br>
Ji Chen, Ph.D.</span></p>
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<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>Committee Members:</b><br>
David R. Jackson, Ph.D. | Jianfeng Zheng, Ph.D. | Driss Benhaddou, Ph.D. | Devashish Shrivastava, Ph.D.</span></p>
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<b>Abstract</b></p>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a very useful technology but there are some safety concerns for patients. Radiofrequency (RF) induced heating and gradient induced
peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) are two typical safety concerns. Although many literatures have found the importance of them, they are not fully investigated. In this dissertation, the impact of anatomy on the RF-induced heating and the impact of orthopedic
implants on the gradient-induced PNS are investigated. The influence of minor postures and body-loop postures on the RF-induced heating for the patients without implants and patients with Active Implanted Medical Devices (AIMD) are presented. For the patients
with passive implants, the posture impacts are studied, and a new phantom is proposed to evaluate the RF-induced heating more accurately compare with the standard American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) phantom. Based on the results and conclusions,
a lot of guidance and suggestions are provided to ensure patient’s safety and improve the assessment of medical devices. A preliminary study for impacts of orthopedic implants on the gradient induced PNS is conducted. It is found that the presence of orthopedic
implants can significantly influence the PNS threshold. Implant effects are suggested to be considered when evaluating PNS constraint for high gradient MR system.</span></p>
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<td style="direction: ltr; width: 602px; height: 88px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><img alt="Engineered For What's Next" width="600" height="82" style="width: 600px; height: 82px;" src="https://www.egr.uh.edu/sites/www.egr.uh.edu/files/enews/2022/images/dissertation2.png"></span></td>
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