title: Towards active guidewire visualization in interventional magnetic resonance imaging.
abstract: Improving the visibility of interventional devices is of paramount importance if MRI-guided fluoroscopy is to become a reality. Passive visualization is problematic in that the susceptibility-induced artifacts are material- and orientation-dependent. Here a concept is presented for making interventional devices visible. It involves fitting a device with a straight-wire antenna. As the sensitivity of such an antenna is highest for signal sources in the immediate neighborhood, using the antenna for reception gives an outline image. In this manner a guidewire or other interventional device could be made MRI-visible. The image appearance of a straight-wire antenna depends on the orientation of the device with respect to the main magnetic field and imaging plane. This phenomena is discussed theoretically and documented with MR images.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: G C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: McKinnon
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Debatin
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Leung
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wildermuth
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Holtz
authors.forename: G K
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: von Schulthess
mesh_terms: D002404:Catheterization / Q000379:methods; D005471:Fluoroscopy / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008432:Mathematical Computing