Feasibility Study of a novel MRI-safe and interactive respiratory biofeedback system

This paper presents a feasibility study of a novel MRI-safe and interactive respiratory biofeedback system. Breathing-induced organ motion is a huge problem in medical imaging as well as in radiation therapy. Controlled breathing is an essential requirement for the efficiency of a successful diagnosis and therapy. To address this problem, a new interactive feedback system was developed. A commando unit provides instructions regarding the desired respiration pattern for the proband and a feedback unit gives a response about the deviation between the actual and the desired respiratory motion. A first feasibility study confirmed the viability of the new system. By means of the interactive biofeedback system, the test persons were able to adjust their respiration according to a prescribed breathing pattern. Our results showed that an interactive respiratory biofeedback system is able to reduce breathing motion and with that could be very beneficial for MR-imaging and also for radiation therapy procedures.