Magnetic steering of iron oxide microparticles using propulsion gradient coils in MRI.

Steering micro-carriers being tracked by an MRI system may be very attractive in oncology. Here, iron oxide microparticles have been steered in a Y-shaped microchannel placed between a Maxwell pair (dB/dz=443 mT/m) located in the center of an MRI bore. A suspension of 10.82 microm iron oxide particles was injected into the channel and a magnetic gradient generated by the Maxwell pair was used to deflect their trajectory. The experimental results based on the percentage of particles retrieved at the targeted outlet during the experiments show that magnetic gradient steering in the human cardiovascular system within an MRI bore can be envisioned.