Estimation of Temperature Change in the Human Brain During Magnetic Resonance Imaging Procedure

Christiana  Subaar; Joseph Kwabena Amoako; Alfred  Owusu; Kwasi  Preko; Sylvester K Danuor

doi:10.4314/just.v41i1.1471

Dr. Christiana Subaar Department of Physics, Faculty of Physical and Computational Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1158-5780
Joseph Kwabena Amoako Radiation Protection Institute, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), Accra, Ghana https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0797-0045
Dr. Alfred Owusu Department of Physics at the University of Cape Coast https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3902-4082
Prof. Kwasi Preko Department of Physics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3542-6525
Prof. Sylvester K. Danuor Department of Physics at KNUST https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6908-1935

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4314/just.v41i1.1471

Keywords: Hyperthermia, Patients, Finite difference time domain, radiofrequency

Abstract

The study measured brain (head) temperature variation of patients during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations. The challenges of measuring temperature increase in-vivo during MRI have led to an increase in the use of numerical methods to precisely predict and quantify the temperature increase and distribution in the human brain during a normal MRI scan. To this end, an explicit formula in the finite difference time domain has been applied to solve Penne’s bioheat equation with the help of the matrix laboratory (MATLAB) programming language. Three-dimensional temperature distribution in patients during MRI was estimated. The study was carried out at the 37 Military Hospital and the Diagnostic Center Limited, Ghana. Fifty (50) adult patients’ forehead temperatures were measured with an infra-red thermometer before and after the MRI. The ages of the patients ranged from 32 to 68 years, with a body mass index ranging between 22.16 and 44.16 kgm-2. The lowest temperature during the MRI from the simulated results was 37.5 o C and the highest temperature was 42.5 o C. The results during MRI scan depicted brain hyperthermia, predicting that the radiofrequency of electromagnetic radiation during MRI leads to tissue heating resulting temperature being highest on the skin, low in the skull, and higher again in the brain. The highest stimulated brain temperature during the brain MRI study depicts brain hyperthermia, and this effect may be caused by the MRI components and the pathological condition of the patient. The experimental results validated the theoretical results by showing that there is a temperature increase after patients’ brain MRI scans. However, the intermittently measured pre-and post-scan temperatures were all within guidance level of 1 °C recommended by the United States Food and Administration and the International Electrotechnical Commission

Author Biographies

Dr. Christiana Subaar, Department of Physics, Faculty of Physical and Computational Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

Christiana Subaar is a Lecturer at the Department of Physics at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana. Safety and pathophysiology associated with radiation diagnosis and treatments is her area of interest. She is a member of the Ghana Science Association (GSA) and the Ghana Society for Medical Physics (GSMP), and continues to establish cooperative relationships with scientists at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC).

Joseph Kwabena Amoako, Radiation Protection Institute, Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), Accra, Ghana

Holds a BSc (Hons) degree in Physics and a Diploma in Education from the University of Cape Coast; an M.Phil in Physics from the University of Ghana, Legon, and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Cape Coast. He also holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Radiation Protection from the University of Witwatersrand Johannesburg, South Africa. He undertook fellowship training in Occupational Radiation Protection at the Greek Atomic Energy Commission. He is currently, an Associate Professor in Health Physics at the School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences, University of Ghana. His research interests are Radiation Dosimetry; Occupational Radiation Protection and Non-ionising Radiation Protection. He is the Vice President of the Ghana Association for Radiation Protection and an Executive Council member of the International Radiation Protection Association

Dr. Alfred Owusu, Department of Physics at the University of Cape Coast

Dr. Alfred Owusu is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Physics at the University of Cape Coast. His area of specialisation is Atomic and Solid State Physics.

Prof. Kwasi Preko, Department of Physics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)

Prof. Kwasi Preko is a Professor of Geophysics at the Department of Physics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana. He has a BSc. Degree in Geology with Physics (1986) in the University of Ghana, Legon, an MPhil. in Geophysics with Geology, Mineralogy, and Experimental and Environmental Physics (1997) and Dr. rer. nat. (2008) degrees from the University of Karlsruhe (now KIT), Germany. As part of his doctoral research, he worked on the use of ground-penetrating radar to retrieve continuous soil water data for climatic applications. Hitherto, the most popular soil water information used had been discrete. Prof. Kwasi Preko has been lecturing for over 20 years in the Departments of Physics and Meteorology and Climate Science of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi.

Prof. Sylvester K. Danuor, Department of Physics at KNUST

Prof. Sylvester K. Danuor is a Professor of Physics in the Department of Physics at KNUST. His areas of research include geophysical subsurface investigations for geotechnical purposes; groundwater; minerals; oil and gas, and studies of the impacts of climate variability and change on the environment and health.