Portable MRI can detect brain abnormalities at the bedside
The latest portable MRI device has deducted brain abnormalities particularly in 29 out of 30 patients that were taken to Yale New Haven Hospital’s Neuroscience ICU after developing the symptoms of stroke and different neurological disorders, based on a new study published Sept. 8 in the journal JAMA Neurology.
The research is the first identified to attempt to deploy a mobile, bedside, magnetic resonance brain-imaging device, which guarantees to provide an immediate diagnosis to doctors in just about any setting with a regular electrical supply.
“Brain-imaging is must to acute care neurology and is an necessary determinant of proper diagnosis and figuring out the optimum treatment possible,” stated Yale’s Kevin Sheth, professor of neurology and neurosurgery and co-corresponding writer of the new study.
This portable MRI machine is useful to find the evidence of ishcemic stroke, subarchanoid hemorrhage, hemorrhagic stroke, traumatic brain injury, and brain tumors in patients presenting with neurological signs and symptoms at Yale New Haven Hospital.
The Yale group also used the portable MRI device to investigate 20 patients with severe COVID-19 symptoms. Many of those patients have been too sick to be moved to an MRI suite for neurological diagnosis. (Eight had neurological abnormalities).
The new MRI portable device was developed in a colllaboration with Yale scientists and Hyperfine, a Guildford-based clinical system based on Yale alumnus Jonathan Rothberg ’91 Ph.D. Clinicians working in areas outside of main metropolitan areas want rapid diagnostic imaging results particularly in cases of stroke, which requires immediate treatment to stop death or poor outcomes for patients. As an example, the portable device might be utilized by doctors in poor nations, rural areas, and even in the ambulances to distinguish between stroke symptoms caused by a brain bleed or blood clot. This info is essential in determining the course of treatment, Sheth stated.
The price of the portable MRI device is expected to be a fraction of conventional MRI machines, which use extraordinarily strong magnets and may only be used in specifically designed rooms.
“The elemental thing is that when you’ve strong magnet it needs to be used in a secure bunker,” Sheth stated. “However a weak magnet you’ll be able to take anywhere safely.”
Hyperfine obtained approval from the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration to be used for its prototype device and has requested permission to use an extra advanced model of the device.
Yale’s Serena Spudich and W. Taylor Kimberly of Massschusetts General Hospital are co-corresponding authors.