Impacts of Tip Structure on RF-induced Heating of an Implantable Neurostimulator under 1.5 T MRI

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of tip structure on radio frequency (RF)-induced heating of a neurostimulator under 1.5 T MRI. It is found that increasing the contacting area of lead tip will help reduce the temperature rise at the hot spot near the neuro-stimulator. The maximum reduction of temperature rise can be 28.82% by optimizing the tip structure. Moreover, it is also shown that for lead tip with fine structure, temperature rise rather than peak 1-gram averaged SAR will more precisely indicate the heating level in MRI.