Thin marker in unique material
The marker is only 0.28 or 0.4 mm thick, which improves the surface-to-volume ratio.
The marker is made of an alloy of pure gold and pure iron for exceptional MR visibility (pat. pend.).
Benefits
- Reduce CT-artifacts
- Easily register CT and MR images
- Clearly visible on kV and ultrasound
- Ideal for proton therapy
Gold Anchor MR+
Until recently, all Gold Anchor markers were made of an alloy of 99.5% pure gold and 0.5% pure iron. Since December 2020, Gold Anchor markers are also made of an alloy of 98.5% pure gold and 1.5% pure iron. Products that include the new markers are called Gold Anchor MR+. These products are currently available in Europe and the USA.
The new marker material provides even greater MRI visibility, especially on T2-weighted images, which typically are used for prostate delineation. This helps when fusing CT and MR images and when moving to MRI-only workflows.
CBCT of 0.28×10 mm Gold Anchor MR+ implanted with ball shape in prostate.
T2-weighted MRI of 0.28×10 mm Gold Anchor MR+ implanted with ball shape in prostate.
CT of 0.4×10 mm Gold Anchor MR+ implanted with ball shape in prostate.
T2-weighted MRI of 0.4×10 mm Gold Anchor MR+ implanted with ball shape in prostate.
Note: Images below depict markers made of the original marker material (an alloy of 99.5% pure gold and 0.5% pure iron).
Reduce CT artifacts
The small Gold Anchor markers cause limited CT-artifacts.
Easily register CT and MR images
Ball shaped Gold Anchors are clearly visible on ordinary T1-weighted MR sequences.
Ball shaped Gold Anchors can also typically be identified on T2-weighted MR sequences. You can thereby detect and adjust for any potential organ movement between MR sequences.
Minimize artifacts and dose pertubation
To further minimize CT artifacts the Gold Anchor markers can be implanted with a line shape. This is also ideal for proton therapy since it minimizes dose perturbation.
Image courtesy of the Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Turku University Hospital.
Line shaped 0.4 mm diameter markers can be visualized with Balanced Fast Field Echo (bFFE) MR sequences.
Image courtesy of the Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy, Turku University Hospital.
Clearly visible on kV
Gold Anchor has been designed for use with kV imaging. The kV x-ray is heavily attenuated whenever it passes through a material of high density, such as gold. A high kV, approximately 130 kV, should be used to fade away the skeleton structures.
Visible on MVCT
The 0.4×20 mm Gold Anchor markers are visible on MVCT if they have been implanted with a ball shape.
MVCT registered to CT images to determine need for repositioning. The MVCT images have been captured with a Siemens ARTISTE system at the Nu-Med Radiotherapy Clinic in Elblag, Poland.
Gold Anchor enables easy fusion of CT and MR images
Two Gold Anchors implanted in prostate. In the images below, the CT and MR images are matched on two markers, one in each lobe.
CT
MR
Liver CT
Images courtesy of Dr. Hiroshi Doi, Mr. Shogo Harui and Dr. Yoshio Hishikawa at the Meiwa Cancer Clinic, Japan
Liver MRI
Images courtesy of Dr. Hiroshi Doi, Mr. Shogo Harui and Dr. Yoshio Hishikawa at the Meiwa Cancer Clinic, Japan