RF-induced heating of interventional devices at 0.55T

Low-field high-performance MRI systems at 0.55T are expected to cause less RF heating in conventional interventional devices compared to clinical 1.5T or 3T systems, which would facilitate MR-guided interventions significantly. Here we systematically evaluate the safety of intravascular devices through high-resolution electric field mapping, transfer function measurements, and realistic device trajectories from vascular models. Furthermore, the effects of patient size and positioning, target organ (liver and heart), and transmit body coil type are tested at a low-field RF test-bench for 6 commonly-used interventional devices (two guidewires, two catheters, an applicator and a biopsy needle).