Mitsubishi Electric, Kyoto University, and Tohoku University announce historic 3T MRI
Mitsubishi Electric, Kyoto University, and Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, announced this week that they had successfully completed the first 3 tesla MRI with “high-temperature superconducting coils.” It was completed with a small model MRI, but the three entities said they want to increase the size of the system to one half of a full-size scanner by 2020.
According to the official statement from Mitsubishi Electric, the precision of the coil winding was increased, resulting in a “strong, stable 3 tesla magnetic field.” The company also used laser displacement meters to fix issues caused by minor discrepancies in the thickness and width of the superconducting wires.
“The small model has an imaging space 25 millimeters in diameter with field homogeneity of less than two-millionths, the same level required for a 230-mm dia. x 650-mm cylinder in a commercial-size MRI,” the statement read. “Using this new approach, Mitsubishi Electric succeeded in imaging a 25-millimeter mouse fetus at 3 tesla.”
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