2003 Volume 4 Issue 4 Pages 345-350
In the MR-guided interventional procedures, an optical tracking system for the scan plane control plays an important role. Two types of new assistive devices for the system were developed, in which the needle guide was placed away from the center of the hand piece or its direction was changed. The system was modified to determine the image planes with the new path of the needle similar to the conventional setting. Since the needle guides were off-center, surgical instruments, endoscope or surgeons' hands did not disturb the image plane determination even during the procedures. One of them (torch type) enabled punctures from the sides of the patient, which were previously impossible. The errors caused by these devices were negligible. They were quite helpful to accomplish more accurate MR image guidance and to increase the availability of the MR-guided interventional procedures.
