Augmented Reality Real-Time Guidance for MRI Interventions - Clear Guide Medical, Inc.
Summary
In this proposal, Clear Guide will develop a novel MRI-compatible, on-patient augmented reality needle
guidance system to make MRI-guided interventions simpler and faster. With minimal changes to
physicians’ existing workflow and without using special headgear, this device could reduce the time of
MRI-guided procedures by minimizing the necessity of multiple MRI scans currently used in the
“advance-and-scan” method of detecting the instrument tip. With the augmented reality guidance,
physicians can see real-time “in MRI” visualization of the instrument tip as it advances through the body
on a medical grade monitor, without the overhead of special needles or long calibration times. More
importantly, the augmented reality guidance is also projected directly onto the patient allowing the
physician to focus on the patient and to confidently follow the preplanned needle path without multiple
MRI scans to check the needle’s progress.
In the Phase I project, Clear Guide will produce a commercialize-able prototype that has been tested
and validated. Clear Guide has already tested for electromagnetic interference in the MR suite and
shown that no interference in image quality by the device occurs. Clear Guide will get data to validate
the expectation of reduced procedure time through a feasibility study measuring procedure time and
accuracy in both a phantom model and torso cadaver study at Children’s National Medical Center.
Public health implications of this proposal include increasing the ability of many different clinical
practitioners to perform a MR-guided biopsy accurately, making this technology available for different
clinical settings. By enabling more MRI-guided procedures, especially for children, the device will
reduce the need for CTs and ionizing radiation.
