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Purpose:
To evaluate and compare the technical accuracy and feasibility of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging-enhanced fluoroscopic guidance and real-time MR imaging guidance for percutaneous puncture procedures in phantoms and animals.
Materials and methods:
The experimental protocol was approved by the institutional animal care and use committee. Punctures were performed in phantoms, aiming for markers (20 each for MR imaging-enhanced fluoroscopic guidance and real-time MR imaging guidance), and pigs, aiming for anatomic landmarks (10 for MR imaging-enhanced fluoroscopic guidance and five for MR imaging guidance). To guide the punctures, T1-weighted three-dimensional (3D) MR images of the phantom or pig were acquired. Additional axial and coronal T2-weighted images were used to visualize the anatomy in the animals. For MR imaging-enhanced fluoroscopic guidance, phantoms and pigs were transferred to the fluoroscopic system after initial MR imaging and C-arm computed tomography (CT) was performed. C-arm CT and MR imaging data sets were coregistered. Prototype navigation software was used to plan a puncture path with use of MR images and to superimpose it on fluoroscopic images. For real-time MR imaging, an interventional MR imaging prototype for interactive real-time section position navigation was used. Punctures were performed within the magnet bore. After completion, 3D MR imaging was performed to evaluate the accuracy of insertions. Puncture durations were compared by using the log-rank test. The Mann-Whitney U test was applied to compare the spatial errors.
Results:
In phantoms, the mean total error was 8.6 mm ± 2.8 with MR imaging-enhanced fluoroscopic guidance and 4.0 mm ± 1.2 with real-time MR imaging guidance (P < .001). The mean puncture time was 2 minutes 10 seconds ± 44 seconds with MR imaging-enhanced fluoroscopic guidance and 37 seconds ± 14 with real-time MR imaging guidance (P < .001). In the animal study, a tolerable distance (<1 cm) between target and needle tip was observed for both MR imaging-enhanced fluoroscopic guidance and real-time MR imaging guidance. The mean total error was 7.7 mm ± 2.4 with MR imaging-enhanced fluoroscopic guidance and 7.9 mm ± 4.9 with real-time MR imaging guidance (P = .77). The mean puncture time was 5 minutes 43 seconds ± 2 minutes 7 seconds with MR imaging-enhanced fluoroscopic guidance and 5 minutes 14 seconds ± 2 minutes 25 seconds with real-time MR imaging guidance (P = .68).
Conclusion:
Both MR imaging-enhanced fluoroscopic guidance and real-time MR imaging guidance demonstrated reasonable and similar accuracy in guiding needle placement to selected targets in phantoms and animals.
Background:
Despite the advancement of technology in electroanatomic mapping systems (EAMS), fluoroscopy remains a necessary, basic imaging modality for electrophysiology procedures. We present a feasibility study of new software that enables 3D-augmented fluoroscopy in biplane catheterization laboratories for planning and guidance of pulmonary vein isolation (PVI). The computer-assisted overlay registration accuracy was assessed in a clinical setting using an automatic calculation of overlay projection geometry that was derived from hardware sensors in C-arms, detectors, and patient table.
Methods:
Consecutive patients (n = 89) underwent left atrium (LA) magnetic resonance imaging MRI scan prior to PVI. Ideal ablation lines encircling the ipsilateral pulmonary veins (PVs) at antral level were drawn onto the segmented LA surface. The 3D-model was superimposed onto biplane fluoroscopy and matched with angiographies of LA and PVs. Three-dimensional-overlay projection geometry was automatically calculated from C-arm, detectors, and table sensors. Accuracy of technique was assessed as alignment of MRI-derived 3D overlay and angiographic LA/PV anatomy. Integrity of registered overlay was quantified using landmark measurements.
Results:
Alignment offsets were 1.3 ± 1.5 mm in left PV, 1.2 ± 1.5 mm in right PV, and 1.1 ± 1.4 mm in LA roof region. Bravais-Pearson correlation of the landmark measurements was r = 0.978 (s < 0.01), mean offset between landmark distance measurements was 1.4 ± 0.78 mm. Average time needed for overlay registration was 9.5 ± 3.5 seconds.
Conclusions:
MRI-derived 3D-augmented fluoroscopy demonstrated a high level of accuracy when compared with LA/PV angiography. The new system could be especially useful to guide procedures not supported by EAMS, such as cryotechnique PVI.
Catheter ablation is a common treatment option for drug-refractory atrial fibrillation. In many cases, pulmonary vein isolation is the treatment of choice. With current fluoro overlay methods or electroanatomic mapping systems, it is possible to visualize three-dimensional (3-D) anatomy as well as target ablation lines to provide additional context information. Today, however, these lines need to be set manually before the procedure by the physician, which may interrupt the clinical workflow. As a solution, we present an automatic approach for the planning of ablation target lines. Our method works on surface models extracted from 3-D images. To propose suitable ablation lines, a reference model annotated with reference ablation lines is nonrigidly registered to the model segmented from a new patient’s 3-D data. After registration, the reference plan is transferred from the reference anatomy to the individual patient anatomy. Due to the high anatomical variations observed in clinical practice, additional landmark constraints are employed in the registration process to increase the robustness of our approach. We evaluated our method on 43 clinical datasets by benchmarking it against professionally planned ablation lines and achieved an average error over all datasets of 2.7±2.0 mm . A qualitative evaluation of the ablation planning lines matched clinical expectations.
Combined Cardiac and Respiratory Motion Compensation for Atrial Fibrillation Ablation Procedures
(2011)
Catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation has become an accepted treatment option if a patient no longer responds to or tolerates drug therapy. A main goal is the electrical isolation of the pulmonary veins attached to the left atrium. Catheter ablation may be performed under fluoroscopic image guidance. Due to the rather low soft-tissue contrast of X-ray imaging, the heart is not visible in these images. To overcome this problem, overlay images from pre-operative 3-D volumetric data can be used to add anatomical detail. Unfortunately, this overlay is compromised by respiratory and cardiac motion. In the past, two methods have been proposed to perform motion compensation. The first approach involves tracking of a circumferential mapping catheter placed at an ostium of a pulmonary vein. The second method relies on a motion estimate obtained by localizing an electrode of the coronary sinus (CS) catheter. We propose a new motion compensation scheme which combines these two methods. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified using 19 real clinical data sets. The motion in the fluoroscopic images was estimated with an overall average error of 0.55 mm by tracking the circumferential mapping catheter. By applying an algorithm involving both the CS catheter and the circumferential mapping catheter, we were able to detect motion of the mapping catheter from one pulmonary vein to another with a false positive rate of 5.8 %.
In many cases, radio-frequency catheter ablation of the pulmonary veins attached to the left atrium still involves fluoroscopic image guidance. Two-dimensional X-ray navigation may also take advantage of overlay images derived from static pre-operative 3D volumetric data to add anatomical details otherwise not visible under X-ray. Unfortunately, respiratory motion may impair the utility of static overlay images for catheter navigation. We developed a novel approach for image-based 3D motion estimation and compensation as a solution to this problem. It is based on 3D catheter tracking which, in turn, relies on 2D/3D registration. To this end, a bi-plane C-arm system is used to take X-ray images of a special circumferential mapping catheter from two directions. In the first step of the method, a 3D model of the device is reconstructed. Three-dimensional respiratory motion at the site of ablation is then estimated by tracking the reconstructed catheter model in 3D based on bi-plane fluoroscopy. Phantom data and clinical data were used to assess model-based catheter tracking. Our phantom experiments yielded an average 2D tracking error of 1.4 mm and an average 3D tracking error of 1.1 mm. Our evaluation of clinical data sets comprised 469 bi-plane fluoroscopy frames (938 monoplane fluoroscopy frames). We observed an average 2D tracking error of 1.0 ± 0.4 mm and an average 3D tracking error of 0.8 ± 0.5 mm. These results demonstrate that model-based motion-compensation based on 2D/3D registration is both feasible and accurate.