An archetype for MRI guided tele-interventions

The aim of this work is to evaluate a robotic system for remote performance of minimally invasive procedures with real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) guidance inside clinical cylindrical scanners. In these studies, the operator had no physical access to the subject and used MR images and video from the observation camera in the scanner to control the robot. The control software allowed manual and semi-automated control modes and included components for collision avoidance, with the subject or the gantry of the scanner, and on-the-fly adjustment of the MR imagine plane to visualize the procedure. Studies were performed initially on phantoms and lastly on a pig inside a standard clinical cylindrical 1.5 Tesla MR scanner.