iMPI – portable human-sized Magnetic Particle Imaging Scanner for real-time endovascular Interventions

Minimally invasive endovascular interventions have become an important tool for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases such as ischemic heart disease, peripheral artery disease, and stroke. X-ray fluoroscopy and digital subtraction angiography are used to precisely guide these procedures, but they are associated with radiation exposure for patients and clinical staff. Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI) is an emerging imaging technology using time-varying magnetic fields combined with magnetic nanoparticle tracers for fast and highly sensitive imaging. In recent years, basic experiments have shown that MPI has great potential for cardiovascular applications. However, current MPI scanners were too large, slow and expensive, and had a very small field of view (FOV), which limited further translational research. Here, we present a portable interventional MPI (iMPI) scanner dedicated for real-time endovascular interventions free of ionizing radiation. It uses a novel field generator approach with a very large FOV and an application-oriented open design enabling hybrid approaches with conventional X-ray-based angiography. The feasibility of a real-time iMPI-guided percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) is shown in a realistic dynamic human-sized leg model.