Measurement of electric fields induced in a human subject due to natural movements in static magnetic fields or exposure to alternating magnetic field gradients.

A dual dipole electric field probe has been used to measure surface electric fields in vivo on a human subject over a frequency range of 0.1-800 Hz. The low-frequency electric fields were induced by natural body movements such as walking and turning in the fringe magnetic fields of a 3 T magnetic resonance whole-body scanner. The rate-of-change of magnetic field (dB/dt) was also recorded simultaneously by using three orthogonal search coils positioned near to the location of the electric field probe. Rates-of-change of magnetic field for natural body rotations were found to exceed 1 T s(-1) near the end of the magnet bore. Typical electric fields measured on the upper abdomen, head and across the tongue for 1 T s(-1) rate of change of magnetic field were 0.15+/-0.02, 0.077+/-0.003 and 0.015+/-0.002 V m(-1) respectively. Electric fields on the abdomen and chest were measured during an echo-planar sequence with the subject positioned within the scanner. With the scanner rate-of-change of gradient set to 10 T m(-1) s(-1) the measured rate-of-change of magnetic field was 2.2+/-0.1 T s(-1) and the peak electric field was 0.30+/-0.01 V m(-1) on the chest. The values of induced electric field can be related to dB/dt by a 'geometry factor' for a given subject and sensor position. Typical values of this factor for the abdomen or chest (for measured surface electric fields) lie in the range of 0.10-0.18 m. The measured values of electric field are consistent with currently available numerical modelling results for movement in static magnetic fields and exposure to switched magnetic field gradients.