Interventional magnetic resonance imaging: an alternative to image guidance with ionising radiation.
At present, interventional procedures, such as stent placement, are performed under X-ray image guidance. Unfortunately with X-ray imaging, both patient and interventionalist are exposed to ionising radiation. Furthermore, X-ray imaging is lacking soft tissue contrast and is not capable of true 3-D displays of either interventional device or tissue morphology. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers excellent soft tissue contrast, 3-D acquisition techniques, as well as rapid image acquisition and reconstruction. Despite these advantages, MR-guided interventions are challenging owing to the limited access to the patient, strong magnetic and radio-frequency fields that require special interventional devices, inferior image frame rates and spatial resolution, and high MRI scanner noise. For MR-guided intravascular interventions, where access to the target organ is achieved through catheters, dedicated hardware and automated image slice positioning techniques have been developed. We illustrate that MR-guided renal embolisations can be performed in closed-bore high-field MR scanners.
Bock
M
M
Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, Abt. Medizinische Physik in der Radiologie (E020), Im Neuenheimer Feld 280, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. M.Bock@dkfz.de
Umathum
R
R
Zuehlsdorff
S
S
Volz
S
S
Fink
C
C
Hallscheidt
P
P
Zimmermann
H
H
Nitz
W
W
Semmler
W
W
D000818:Animals; D001011:Aorta / Q000473:pathology; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D007668:Kidney / Q000378:metabolism; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D011839:Radiation, Ionizing; D015642:Radiology, Interventional / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D013552:Swine; D014965:X-Rays
D003287:Contrast Media