Adapting MRI systems to propel and guide microdevices in the human blood circulatory system

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems are widely used to gather noninvasively images of the interior of the human body. This paper suggests that an MRI system can be seen beyond being just a tool for imaging purpose but one that can propel and guide special microdevices in the human body to perform specific medical tasks. More specifically, an MRI system can potentially be used to image the region of interest, propel a microdevice through the generation of magnetic gradients, determine the location of the device, compute the corrective actions through feedback control algorithms and adjust the generation of the magnetic gradients accordingly to navigate such a microdevice in a preplanned path. This paper presents an introductory description of the proposed techniques, the main issues to consider, and some preliminary data indicating the validity of this approach.