Pediatric MR-guided interventions

MRI guided interventions are a relatively new but steadily growing field within surgery in pediatric age. Besides the advantages of MRI such as multiplanar capability and excellent soft tissue contrast and spatial resolution, particularly relevant for the pediatric population is the lack of ionizing radiation. There is meanwhile a group of well defined diagnostic or therapeutic indications for applying MR imaging during pediatric interventions. Aim of this review is to give an overview about indications of MR-guided procedures in children as well as the advantages and disadvantaaes of MR-guided interventions. We also briefly discuss interventional MR-systems and MR-compatible devices. It is our opinion that MR-guidance for pediatric interventions is a promising technique at the beginning of its development(D (C) 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.