Portable magnetic resonance imaging of patients indoors, outdoors and at\n home

Abstract

Mobile medical imaging devices are invaluable for clinical diagnostic\npurposes both in and outside healthcare institutions. Among the various imaging\nmodalities, only a few are readily portable. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI),\nthe gold standard for numerous healthcare conditions, does not traditionally\nbelong to this group. Recently, low-field MRI start-up companies have\ndemonstrated the first decisive steps towards portability within medical\nfacilities, but these are so far incompatible with more demanding use cases\nsuch as in remote and developing regions, sports facilities and events, medical\nand military camps, or home healthcare. Here we present in vivo images taken\nwith a light, home-made, low-field extremity MRI scanner outside the controlled\nenvironment provided by medical facilities. To demonstrate the true portability\nof the system and benchmark its performance in various relevant scenarios, we\nhave acquired images of a volunteer's knee in: i) an MRI physics laboratory;\nii) an office room; iii) outside a campus building, connected to a nearby power\noutlet; iv) in open air, powered from a small fuel-based generator; and v) at\nthe volunteer's home. All images have been acquired within clinically viable\ntimes, and signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) and tissue contrast suffice for 2D and\n3D reconstructions with diagnostic value, with comparable overall image quality\nacross all five situations. Furthermore, the volunteer carries a fixation\nmetallic implant screwed to the femur, which leads to strong artifacts in\nstandard clinical systems but appears sharp in our low-field acquisitions.\nAltogether, this work opens a path towards highly accessible MRI under\ncircumstances previously unrealistic.\n