Active MR guidance of interventional devices with target-navigation

This project incorporated a novel inductive coupling structure of three mic ro coils into an invasive device tip to determine both its tip position and orientation, Moreover, with the introduction of a new target-navigation te chnique the MR scan plane was defined automatically by the invasive device orientation and target tissue location. A time domain multiplexing techniqu e was applied for simultaneous MR imaging and device tracking. Using these techniques, the acquired MR images always showed both the invasive device a nd its target tissue. Thus, roadmap images and their potential misregistrat ion errors were avoided. A graphical user interface (GUI) was also designed to assist interventional physicians in monitoring and guiding the insertio n of the interventional device. Ex vivo phantom and in vivo animal experime nts were performed to test this new technique. The methods developed in thi s project provide a new active technique for interventional device guidance using MRI. (C) 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.