New low-field MRI small enough to plug into a standard wall outlet saves money without sacrificing safety
A lower powered MRI machine small enough to plug into a standard wall outlet could increase access to the modality where it didn’t previously exist.
While it might sound like a radiology pipe dream, efforts to produce smaller, more affordable MRI equipment have gained steam in recent years. Now, a machine with what might be the smallest magnet yet to be utilized in MRI scanners—.05T—is being presented as a promising option for overcoming accessibility barriers.
A paper published Friday in Science suggests the compact, ultra-low frequency (ULF) machine addresses several common hurdles clinics must overcome to provide MRI services, such as infrastructure requirements and installation costs.
The .05T magnet requires significantly less power than larger units and can be plugged into a standard wall outlet. It requires just 1,800 watts to scan, compared to the more than 25,000 (or more) watts that larger machines need to function. Unlike standard scanners, there is no need for a radiofrequency (RF)-shielded room to house the smaller magnet, and scans can be conducted safely without additional magnetic shielding.
For some smaller magnets, there is a question of whether a less powerful scanner will depreciate the quality of the images it renders. However, the ULF scanner was able to complete multiple common protocols, including T1-weighted, T2-weighted and diffusion-weighted imaging, on multiple body regions—head, spine, abdomen, chest and other musculoskeletal areas—and it provided image quality similar to that of scanners with more powerful magnets.
It was able to do this, in part, with the help of deep learning signal prediction and image formation that reduced noise and artifacts while also increasing image spatial resolution.
The scans were also time efficient, with an average exam time of eight minutes.
While low-field MRI has not become mainstream yet, the experts are hopeful in its promise to bring MRI to more people.
“These advances pave the way for affordable, patient-centric, and deep learning–powered ULF MRI scanners, addressing unmet clinical needs in diverse healthcare settings worldwide,” Yujiao Zhao, PhD, from the Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging and Signal Processing at the University of Hong Kong, and colleagues suggested. “Its potential as an essential and environmentally sustainable health technology will be proven when many communities around the world can use low-field MRI without barriers.”
In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She began covering the medical imaging industry for Innovate Healthcare in 2021.