Active Guidewire Visualization Device and System for MRI Guided Interventions

Available for licensing and commercial development is a guidewire device and system for MRI guidance of vascular interventions. The guidewire design, and its coupled system, enables interventionalists to visualize the location of the tip and distal shaft of an MRI compatible guidewire relative to the vascular system and surrounding anatomy. Visualization of both the shaft and tip enables interventionalists to advance the guidewire through tortuous vessels reducing the risk of puncturing vessel walls and also steering it through labyrinthine vasculature. The guidewire provided by the present invention includes distal and proximal ends with a space therein, a dipole antenna disposed in the space reserved within the guidewire body, the dipole antenna being adapted to be electrically connected to a signal processing system through a first signal channel through the proximal end of the guidewire body, and a loop antenna disposed in the space reserved within the guidewire body toward the distal end of the guidewire body, the loop antenna being adapted to be electrically connected to the signal processing system through a second signal channel through the proximal end of the guidewire body. The dipole antenna and the loop antenna are each constructed to receive magnetic resonance imaging signals independently of each other and to transmit received signals through the first and second signal channels, respectively, to be received by the signal processing system. More specifically, both loop and dipole antenna are tuned to resonate at the same Larmour frequency as produced by the magnet.