Title :
Tracking the Position and Rotational Orientation of a Catheter Using a Transmit Array System
Author :
Celik, Hasan ; Mahcicek, D.I. ; Senel, O.K. ; Wright, Graham A. ; Atalar, E.
Author_Institution :
Electr. & Electron. Eng. Dept., Bilkent Univ., Ankara, Turkey
Abstract :
A new method for detecting the rotational orientation and tracking the position of an inductively coupled radio frequency (ICRF) coil using a transmit array system is proposed. The method employs a conventional body birdcage coil, but the quadrature hybrid is eliminated so that the two excitation channels can be used separately. The transmit array system provides RF excitations such that the body birdcage coil creates linearly polarized and changing RF pulses instead of a conventional rotational forward-polarized excitation. The receive coils and their operations are not modified. Inductively coupled RF coils are constructed on catheters for detecting rotational orientation and for tracking purposes. Signals from the anatomy and from tissue close to the ICRF coil are different due to the new RF excitation scheme: the ICRF coil can be separated from the anatomy in real time, and after doing so, a color-coded image is reconstructed. More importantly, this novel method enables a real-time calculation of the absolute rotational orientation of an ICRF coil constructed on a catheter.
Keywords :
arrays; biological tissues; biomedical MRI; catheters; image reconstruction; medical image processing; polarisation; position measurement; ICRF coil construction; RF excitations; RF pulse change; absolute rotational orientation; anatomy signals; body birdcage coil; catheter; color-coded image reconstruction; excitation channels; inductively coupled radio frequency coil; linear polarization; position tracking; quadrature hybrid; rotational forward-polarized excitation; rotational orientation tracking; tissue; transmit array system; Arrays; Catheters; Coils; Imaging; Magnetic fields; Radio frequency; Vectors; Catheter tracking; inductively coupled radio-frequency (ICRF) coil; interventional MRI; rotational orientation; transmit array; Animals; Catheters; Computer Simulation; Equipment Design; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Rabbits; Radio Waves;
Journal_Title :
Medical Imaging, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TMI.2013.2247047