Real-time MR fluoroscopy for MR-guided iliac artery stent placement

The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility of real-time magnetic resonance (MR). guidance of iliac artery stent placement. Radial scanning, together with the sliding window reconstruction technique was implemented on a 1.5 T magnet, yielding a frame rate of 20 images per second. Seven pro totype nitinol ZA stents were deployed mi Mae arteries of living pigs under MR control. All stents were wen visualized on the radial MR images, allowi ng depiction of the mounted stents as well as stent deployment without anat omy obscuring artifacts. Stent placement was sucessful in all cases and too k 6 minutes on average. The position of the stents was correctly visualized by real-time radial MR scanning, as proved by digital subtraction X-ray an giography. Combined radial scanning and the sliding window reconstruction t echnique allow realtime MR-guided stent placement in iliac arteries. (C) 20 00 Wiley-Liss, Inc.