09 Minimally invasive local treatment of malignant tumors under MRI guidance

		Ex-vivo liver RF ablation with simultaneous MRI monitoring.

Percutaneous interventions are less invasive than surgery, and more precise than external radiation therapy. Recent progress in MRI technology brought enormous potential for guidance of interventional procedures. The purpose of this project is to implement and evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of minimally invasive percutaneous local treatments (radio-frequency (RF) ablation, cryotherapy, brachytherapy) of malignant tumours under MR imaging guidance. The main obstacles that remain for clinical practice are: incompatibility of RF ablation under MR monitoring, respiratory motion, time-consuming probe placement navigation, lack of standardised MR imaging protocols.

MR-guided tumour treatment

The goal of this project is to render RF ablation so that it is MR-compatible by RF-filtering, and allowing for real-time accurate ablation monitoring by MR imaging and thermometry.

Navigation for MR-guided brachytherapy

Development of an independent navigation program for improved probe placement navigation and patient access for increased workflow.

Modeling of respiratory organ motion

The aim of this project is the development of image processing methods and statistical techniques to build a generic model of respiratory organ motion.

Project Coordination