MR IMAGING-GUIDED INTRAVASCULAR PROCEDURES - INITIAL DEMONSTRATION INA PIG MODEL

With use of an open 1.5-T magnetic resonance (MR) imager and a trackin g catheter, the authors successfully placed the catheter into the left or right sacral artery in pigs. The tracking catheter comprised a 5.3 -F percutaneous transluminal angioplasty catheter with a small copper radio-frequency coil in its tip. With use of the coil as an antenna, t he catheter tip position was projected in real time onto MR angiograph y road maps in two planes. Guidance of placement of the catheter with the MR angiography road maps allowed successful embolization, balloon occlusion, and transjugular intrahepatic puncture of the portal system . Specialized catheters can be tracked in vivo to allow MR guidance in intravascular interventional procedures.