Navigation concepts for MR image‐guided interventions

The ongoing development of powerful magnetic resonance imaging techniques also allows for advanced possibilities to guide and control minimally invasive interventions. Various navigation concepts have been described for practically all regions of the body. The specific advantages and limitations of these concepts largely depend on the magnet design of the MR scanner and the interventional environment. Open MR scanners involve minimal patient transfer, which improves the interventional workflow and reduces the need for coregistration, ie, the mapping of spatial coordinates between imaging and intervention position. Most diagnostic scanners, in contrast, do not allow the physician to guide his instrument inside the magnet and, consequently, the patient needs to be moved out of the bore. Although adequate coregistration and navigation concepts for closed‐bore scanners are technically more challenging, many developments are driven by the well‐known capabilities of high‐field systems and their better economic value. Advanced concepts such as multimodal overlays, augmented reality displays, and robotic assistance devices are still in their infancy but might propel the use of intraoperative navigation. The goal of this work is to give an update on MRI‐based navigation and related techniques and to briefly discuss the clinical experience and limitations of some selected systems. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2008;27:276–291. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.