Implementation of an interactive real-time MRI acquisition and display for improving efficiency and accuracy of MR-guided breast interventions

INTRODUCTION MRI can be an important tool in the early detection of breast lesions and may provide improved capability for imaging-guided interventions (IGI) and therapies (IGT). During an MR-guided breast intervention, placement of a needle or probe requires accurate localization of the target. An unsuccessful needle placement can occur if the target moves from its original position during the insertion or the patient moves after the planning images were acquired, between the acquisition of roadmap images and the needle insertion. To allow rapid identification of these errors, avoid unnecessary trauma to the patient, and minimize scanner time, a real-time MR acquisition and display was implemented to allow the physician to monitor both the progress of the insertion and the procedure itself, such as core needle biopsy or tumor ablation. Flexibility was added to adjust the scan plane in real-time and make tradeoffs between update display rate and image quality.