MR compatible optical motion tracking

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), in spite of its potential in medical diagnosis, has one major drawback: Image acquisition is a slow process, requiring the patient to not move for several minutes. This renders MRI useless in a number of cases. In the case of MR Imaging of the Head, optical motion tracking can be used for motion compensation, thereby greatly improving image quality. In this paper, an MR-compatible approach of tracking the patient's head is presented which does not require his or her cooperation, based on stereo-optical marker tracking. It is adapted to work in the MRI scanner, does not influence the MR image acquisition and is easily integrated into clinical routine.