MR-GUIDED ENDOVASCULAR INTERVENTIONS - SUSCEPTIBILITY-BASED CATHETER AND NEAR-REAL-TIME IMAGING TECHNIQUE

In a 47-year-old healthy male volunteer, susceptibility-based magnetic resonance (MR) imaging was performed in the basilic vein in the right upper arm at 1.5 T. A conventional 3-F nonbraided polyethylene cathet er with a 0.3-mm lumen diameter was locally impregnated with dysprosiu m oxide, and six ringed areas of increased susceptibility were created . Passive tracking of the catheter was performed with near-real-time c onventional two-dimensional gradient-echo angiography. The entire prep ared part of the catheter was depicted without steering problems or co mplications. Passive tracking is expected to provide a valuable adjunc t to active tracking for guiding endovascular interventions.