Patent ID: 7822460

Claim:
A method for performing an MRI-guided medical procedure, comprising the steps of: placing a subject in a main magnetic field of an MR Scanner; introducing a single MR-compatible electrode catheter with an MR receive antenna inside the subject while the subject is in the main magnetic field, the MR-compatible electrode catheter comprising at least one electrode and at least one wire coupled to the at least one electrode and extending along the catheter; generating a plurality of RF pulses using the MR scanner; attenuating signals induced by the RF pulses in the at least one electrode and the at least one wire coupled to the at least one electrode; acquiring magnetic resonance signals in response to the RF pulses using the MR receive antenna during and/or after the introducing step; generating MRI images using the signals acquired by the MR receive antenna; using the generated MRI images to determine the location of the electrode catheter; and acquiring electrical signals indicative of an electrophysiological state of target tissue using the at least one electrode while the subject is in the main magnetic field.