Abstract #3745

Accurate Catheter Tip Tracking for MR-Guided EP Procedures using Realtime Active Detuning

Venkat Ramanan¹, Samuel O Oduneye², Labonny Biswas¹, Stefan Pintilie¹, Graham a Wright¹,²

¹Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; ²Medical Biophysics, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

MR-guided electrophysiological procedures require precise localization of tips of catheters. However the microcoils in the catheter tips couple with the surface coil(s) leading to larger sensitivity volumes for the microcoil. This results in poor tracking of the catheter tip both in accuracy and temporal stability. We propose a method for decoupling catheter and surface coil(s), operator controlled realtime active detuning, which allows us to track accurately at high frame rates while also facilitating realtime imaging using surface coils. Our technique was tested in phantoms and pigs and was found to work well. It is currently incorporated in our MR-guided EP pig experiments.