Active MR guidance of interventional devices with target-navigation

This project incorporated a novel inductive coupling structure of three micro coils into an invasive device tip to determine both its tip position and orientation. Moreover, with the introduction of a new target‐navigation technique the MR scan plane was defined automatically by the invasive device orientation and target tissue location. A time domain multiplexing technique was applied for simultaneous MR imaging and device tracking. Using these techniques, the acquired MR images always showed both the invasive device and its target tissue. Thus, roadmap images and their potential misregistration errors were avoided. A graphical user interface (GUI) was also designed to assist interventional physicians in monitoring and guiding the insertion of the interventional device. Ex vivo phantom and in vivo animal experiments were performed to test this new technique. The methods developed in this project provide a new active technique for interventional device guidance using MRI. Magn Reson Med 44:56–65, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.