Patent ID: 8457712

Claim:
A multi-mode medical device system capable of MR internal imaging and of being tracked using an MRI system, the multi-mode medical device system comprising: an elongate member extending along an axis for insertion into a body lumen; and a single conductor pair extending to one end of the elongate member within a patient; and an electrical circuit attached to the elongate member at the one end and electrically coupled via the conductor pair to the MRI system to provide MRI imaging signals thereto, the electrical circuit including: a tracking coil portion providing a first multiturn coil wound around the axis of the elongate member at the first end; an imaging coil portion connected to the tracking coil portion and providing a coil with at least one turn wound around an axis perpendicular to the axis of the elongate member and displaced inward from the one end with respect to the tracking coil portion, the tracking and imaging coils connected to the single conductor pair to both provide signals combined on the single connector pair to provide a combined signal, wherein the signals are combined on the single connector pair without time or frequency shifting; wherein the electrical circuit is a resonant circuit tuned to frequencies of magnetic resonance produced by the MRI system; whereby the electrical circuit provides both tracking and imaging using the single conductor pair and wherein the tracking coil is adapted to provide a localized spatial sensitivity greater than a sensitivity of the imaging coil, and wherein the tracking coil produces a sharp peak in a Fourier transformation of the combined signal distinguishable from the signal from the imaging coil.