Method of propulsion of a ferromagnetic core in the cardiovascular system through magnetic gradients generated by an MRI system

This paper reports the use of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system to propel a ferromagnetic core. The concept was studied for future development of microdevices designed to perform minimally invasive interventions in remote sites accessible through the human cardiovascular system. A mathematical model is described taking into account various parameters such as the size of blood vessels, the velocities and viscous properties of blood, the magnetic properties of the materials, the characteristics of MRI gradient coils, as well as the ratio between the diameter of a spherical core and the diameter of the blood vessels. The concept of magnetic propulsion by MRI is validated experimentally by measuring the flow velocities that magnetized spheres (carbon steel 1010/1020) can withstand inside cylindrical tubes under the different magnetic forces created with a Siemens Magnetom Vision 1.5 T MRI system. The differences between the velocities predicted by the theoretical model and the experiments are approximately 10%. The results indicate that with the technology available today for gradient coils used in clinical MRI systems, it is possible to generate sufficient gradients to propel a ferromagnetic sphere in the larger sections of the arterial system. In other words, the results show that in the larger blood vessels where the diameter of the microdevices could be as large as a couple a millimeters, the few tens of mT/m of gradients required for displacement against the relatively high blood flow rate is well within the limits of clinical MRI systems. On the other hand, although propulsion of a ferromagnetic core with diameter of approximately 600 microm may be possible with existing clinical MRI systems, gradient amplitudes of several T/m would be required to propel a much smaller ferromagnetic core in small vessels such as capillaries and additional gradient coils would be required to upgrade existing MRI systems for operations at such a scale.