Safety evaluation of magnetic catheter steering with upgraded magnetic resonance imaging system.

Catheter navigation and placement through the arterial network is a major limitation for clinical procedure. In this article, a specific catheter tip and a modified clinical MRI scanner with an upgraded gradient system are used to steer a catheter through a single Y-shaped bifurcation. Safety aspects are analyzed to avoid the peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) according to an empirical law of magnetostimulation and the magnetic field of upgraded 3D gradient coils. For a rabbit-sized device, the rising time of gradients system have to be limited to 1.7ms at 400mT.m(-1) to avoid PNS. These rise time values allow the use of this system for catheter steering and other more demanding applications.