Dielectric shimming design tool for MRI

In MRI, a homogeneous magnetic RF field is of great importance to acquire equally weighted contrast images. In high-field MRI, however, the RF field is inhomogeneous. Dielectric materials, in the form of flexible pads, are an effective method to tailor the magnetic RF field. These pads are placed on the body and induce a secondary magnetic field because of its high permittivity, such that the magnetic field distribution can be improved. The design of a pad is not trivial and its material properties, location, and dimensions need to be carefully determined.

The pad design tool allows one to easily and quickly design these pads for a specific region of interest for any 3T body imaging and 7T neuroimaging application.