Navigator based FUS Transducer Tracking without the micro-RF coil setup

Introduction: The ability to track the location of the ultrasound transducer is of utmost significance in various new Magnetic Resonance guided Focused Ultrasound (MRgFUS) applications such as in pain palliation of bone metastases and prostate tumor treatment. The ultrasound transducer is generally monitored using a micro-RF coil setup shown in Figure 1. The tracking of micro RF-coils was first introduced in [1] and in the MRgFUS applications they are embedded on the transducer and their positions are estimated to track the location of the transducer. The success of these applications is highly dependent upon the quality of the micro-RF coil position measurements, which could be erroneous if the signal from the surrounding anatomy is not properly suppressed. In this work, a kspace based novel technique is described to demonstrate the feasibility of transducer tracking without the microRF coil setup, which would be amenable for the new MRgFUS applications.