Assessment of induced SAR in children exposed to electromagnetic plane waves between 10 MHz and 5.6 GHz

To avoid potentially adverse health effects of electromagnetic fields (EMF), the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) has defined EMF reference levels from the basic restrictions on the induced whole-body-averaged specific absorption rate (SAR(wb)) and the peak 10 g...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physics in medicine & biology 2010-06, Vol.55 (11), p.3115-3130
Main Authors: Bakker, J F, Paulides, M M, Christ, A, Kuster, N, van Rhoon, G C
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Absorption
Adolescent
Adult
Child
Child, Preschool
Computer Simulation
Electromagnetic Fields
Female
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods
Male
Models, Anatomic
Phantoms, Imaging
Radiation Protection - methods
Reference Standards
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:To avoid potentially adverse health effects of electromagnetic fields (EMF), the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) has defined EMF reference levels from the basic restrictions on the induced whole-body-averaged specific absorption rate (SAR(wb)) and the peak 10 g spatial-averaged SAR (SAR(10g)). The objective of this study is to assess if the SAR in children remains below the basic restrictions upon exposure at the reference levels. Finite difference time domain (FDTD) modeling was used to calculate the SAR in six children and two adults when exposed to all 12 orthogonal plane wave configurations. A sensitivity study showed an expanded uncertainty of 53% (SAR(wb)) and 58% (SAR(10g)) due to variations in simulation settings and tissue properties. In this study, we found that the basic restriction on the SAR(wb) is occasionally exceeded for children, up to a maximum of 45% in small children. The maximum SAR(10g) values, usually found at body protrusions, remain under the limit for all scenarios studied. Our results are in good agreement with the literature, suggesting that the recommended ICNIRP reference levels may need fine tuning.
ISSN:0031-9155
1361-6560
DOI:10.1088/0031-9155/55/11/009