Artifact reduction of coaxial needles in magnetic resonance imaging-guided abdominal interventions at 1.5 T: a...

Needle artifacts pose a major limitation for MRI-guided interventions, as they impact the visually perceived needle size and needle-to-target-distance. The objective of this agar liver phantom study was to establish an experimental basis to understand and reduce needle artifact formation during MRI-guided abdominal interventions. Using a vendor-specific prototype fluoroscopic T1-weighted gradient echo sequence with real-time multiplanar acquisition at 1.5 T, the influence of 6 parameters (flip angle, bandwidth, matrix, slice thickness, read-out direction, intervention angle relative to B₀) on artifact formation of 4 different coaxial MR-compatible coaxial needles (Nitinol, 16G-22G) was investigated. As one parameter was modified, the others remained constant. For each individual parameter variation, 2 independent and blinded readers rated artifact diameters at 2 predefined positions (15 mm distance from the perceived needle tip and at 50% of the needle length). Differences between the experimental subgroups were assessed by Bonferroni-corrected non-parametric tests. Correlations between continuous variables were expressed by the Bravais-Pearson coefficient and interrater reliability was quantified using the intraclass classification coefficient. Needle artifact size increased gradually with increasing flip angles (p = 0.002) as well as increasing intervention angles (p < 0.001). Artifact diameters differed significantly between the chosen matrix sizes (p = 0.002) while modifying bandwidth, readout direction, and slice thickness showed no significant differences. Interrater reliability was high (intraclass correlation coefficient 0.776-0.910). To minimize needle artifacts in MRI-guided abdominal interventions while maintaining optimal visibility of the coaxial needle, we suggest medium-range flip angles and low intervention angles relative to B₀.