Kc. Patel et al., Methods for providing probe position and temperature information on MR images during interventional procedures, IEEE MED IM, 17(5), 1998, pp. 794-802
Citations number
14
Categorie Soggetti
Radiology ,Nuclear Medicine & Imaging","Eletrical & Eletronics Engineeing
Interventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be defined as the use o
f MR images for guiding and monitoring interventional procedures (e.g., bio
psy, drainage) or minimally invasive therapy (e.g., thermal ablation), This
work describes the development of a prototype graphical user interface and
the appropriate software methods to accurately overlay a representation of
a rigid interventional device [e.g., biopsy needle, radio-frequency (RF) p
robe] onto an MR image given only the probe's spatial position and orientat
ion as determined from a three-dimensional (3-D) localizer used for interac
tive scan plane definition. This permits 1) "virtual tip tracking," where t
he probe tip location is displayed on the image without the use of separate
receiver coils or a "road map" image data set, and, 2) "extending" the pro
be to predict its path if it were directly moved forward toward the target
tissue, Further, this paper describes the design and implementation of a me
thod to facilitate the monitoring of thermal ablation procedures by display
ing and overlaying temperature maps from temperature sensitive MR acquisiti
ons. These methods provide rapid graphical updates of probe position and te
mperature changes to aid the physician during the actual interventional MRI
procedures without altering the usual operation of the MR imager.