Abstract #1840

A Passive, Image-Based Navigation Tool for Real-Time MR-Guided Percutaneous Interventional Procedures

Wilhelm Strehl¹, Eva Rothgang^1,2, Wesley Gilson², Klaus J. Kirchberg³, Joachim Hornegger¹, Christine Lorenz²

¹Pattern Recognition Lab, Department of Computer Science, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Bavaria, Germany; ²Center for Applied Medical Imaging, Siemens Corporation, Corporate Research, Baltimore, MD, United States; ³Center for Applied Medical Imaging, Siemens Corporation, Princeton, NJ, United States

Percutaneous interventions involve the navigation of a needle or probe to a target location. MRI is well-suited to guide these procedures as it offers good soft tissue target visualization and no ionizing radiation. High field wide bore MRI has stimulated interest in performing more of these procedures, but workflow and procedure speed are significant hurdles for full adoption. Here, a navigation tool for guiding and tracking the needle in real-time under MRI is presented.