SUPERCONDUCTING MAGNET SYSTEM FOR INTRAVASCULAR NAVIGATION

A magnet system capable of guiding a ferromagnetic-tipped catheter through vessels in the body would greatly facilitate many medical treatments by providing access to parts of the body otherwise inaccessible except by major surgery. A rotatable iron magnet which has been employed in preliminary experiments with laboratory animals has indicated the feasibility of this technique, but a more advanced system is required for sophisticated medical applications. This paper describes a proposed design for a superconducting magnet system, with a 10 in. room-temperature access, which can exert an arbitrarily directed force of 200 times that of gravity on a tip anywhere within the head. A larger but otherwise similar system could be used for cathetarization of any part of the body. © 1969 The American Institute of Physics.