An Augmented Reality system for MRI-guided needle biopsies.

A navigation system can increase the speed and accuracy of MR guided interventions that make use of scanners with high-field closed magnets. We report on first needle placement experiments performed with an Augmented Reality (AR) navigation system. AR visualization provides very intuitive guidance, resulting in a faster procedure. The accuracy of the needle placement depends on the registration accuracy of the system. In the present trials, the needle was placed as good as 1mm close to the target center, however in a small number of cases substantially larger errors occurred and were most likely caused by needle bending.