MRI for all: Cheap portable scanners aim to revolutionize medical imaging

.news-article__hero--featured .parallax__element{ object-position: 47% 50%; -o-object-position: 47% 50%; } The patient, a man in his 70s with a shock of silver hair, lies in the neuro intensive care unit (neuro ICU) at Yale New Haven Hospital. Looking at him, you’d never know that a few days earlier a tumor was removed from his pituitary gland. The operation didn’t leave a mark because, as is standard, surgeons reached the tumor through his nose. He chats cheerfully with a pair of research associates who have come to check his progress with a new and potentially revolutionary device they are testing. The cylindrical machine stands chest high and could be the brooding older brother of R2D2, the Star Wars robot. One of the researchers carefully guides the 630-kilogram self-propelled scanner up to the head of the bed, steering it with a joystick. Lifting the man by his bed sheet, the researchers help him ease his head into the Swoop—a portable magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner made by a company called Hyperfine. “Do you want ear plugs?” asks Vineetha Yadlapalli, the second researcher. “Is it as loud as a regular MRI?” “Not at all.” “Then I guess I don’t need them.” After propping up the patient’s legs to ease the strain on his back, Yadlapalli sets the machine to work, tapping in a few instructions from an iPad. The machine emits a low growl, then proceeds to beep and click. Within minutes, an ima...
Source: Science of Aging Knowledge Environment - Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research