[Progress in cardiovascular interventional MRI]

The purpose of this article is to review recent developments in the field of MR guided vascular interventions. Such interventions require real-time visualization of catheters and guidewires to define their location with regards to the vascular system and surrounding tissues. In the first part of the article, passive and active catheter visualization, real-time angiography, and interactivity techniques that make guidance of intra-vascular instruments possible are described. Subsequently animal coronary and peripheral interventions performed under MR guidance are described. MR guided interventions could potentially open up new applications for the treatment of cardio-vascular disease in the near future.