INTERVENTIONAL MR TOMOGRAPHY - EQUIPMENT CONCEPTS

Interventional MRI is one of the most recent developments of clinical MR imaging. Because of the development of open MR systems and very com pact high-field systems, a number of interventional procedures are alr eady possible today under MR control and will be tested in experimenta l and clinical investigations. The currently commercially available sy stems differ with respect to their static magnetic field strength, the ir gradient systems and patient access. In addition, there are differe nces concerning their space requirements and costs. All systems have c omponents facilitating interventional procedures. In this article we d iscuss the advantages and shortcomings of these commercially available systems and look at future developments in interventional MR equipmen t.