Ann-Kathrin Homagk1, Reiner Umathum1, Michael Bock2, Wolfhard Semmler1, Peter Hallscheidt3
1Dept. of Medical Physics in Radiology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany; 2Dept. of Radiology, Medical Physics, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; 3Dept. of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
Conventional detachable embolization coils are made from platinum or stainless steel, and may thus be an MR safety hazard due to resonant device heating. In this work a novel type of non-metallic and therefore intrinsically MR safe embolization coils is investigated in a pig model. The contrast enhanced injection of three polymer embolization coils into the renal artery was monitored in real time. 40 minutes after embolization, the perfusion deficit was clearly identified on high resolution contrast enhanced 3D FLASH data sets. With this initial experiment, the usability of the novel polymer coils for MR-guided embolization procedures could be demonstrated.