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- Magnetic in the field: scientists have created Russia's first portable MRI machine
Magnetic in the field: scientists have created Russia's first portable MRI machine
Scientists have developed an experimental sample of Russia's first portable magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which is about five times cheaper to install and maintain than its stationary counterparts. The device operates on a weak magnetic field, so it does not require a special room, a complex cooling system or a powerful power supply — it is able to operate from a conventional outlet. The device can be moved directly to the wards of patients with limited mobility, and the technology features allow people with metal implants to conduct research. At the same time, as the experts interviewed by Izvestia emphasized, the development should not be considered as a full-fledged replacement for classical MRI systems: it will be most in demand in situations where access to traditional diagnostics is limited or absent.
Russia's first portable MRI
ITMO scientists have developed Russia's first portable magnetic resonance imaging machine, which does not require special facilities and complex infrastructure. As the authors of the project explained, the installation of classical MRI systems with a 1.5-3 Tesla magnetic field involves the creation of a shielded room, the so–called Faraday cage, which protects sensitive radio electronics from external interference. In addition, the electromagnet of such devices, made on the basis of superconducting materials, requires constant cooling with liquid helium, which gradually evaporates. In order not to waste expensive gas, cooling units are placed on the street.
Due to the attachment to an equipped location, MRI diagnostics on stationary devices cannot be performed on bedridden patients in intensive care units, since their movement is fraught with risks to life and health. In addition, the cost of one CT scanner exceeds 100 million rubles, and its annual maintenance costs 10-15 million rubles. Therefore, this technology is available only in large cities, and residents of small settlements remain without the necessary diagnostics. The new installation will help to remove these restrictions, and its use will be five times cheaper.
— The portability of the device allows you not to take the patient to the CT scanner, but the CT scanner to the patient. To ensure the autonomous operation of the device, we used a permanent magnet with a weak field. It does not require cryogenic infrastructure, so the installation is compact and can operate in almost any room with a standard 220 V power grid. Such a device can be brought directly to a bedridden patient, placed in such a way that the head is in the work area, and immediately begin the study," Ekaterina Bruy, head of the development of the methodological and algorithmic part of the project, senior researcher at the ITMO Faculty of Physics, told Izvestia.
The ultra-low magnetic field of portable MRI allows diagnostics for those who are contraindicated in high-field devices. The device's parameters are considered safe for most metal implants, as a weak field does not heat the metal or displace it, so it does not harm the patient. This allows you to examine people with splinters, prosthetics, or patients connected to ventilators.
Due to its autonomy, the device can work in a ward, intensive care unit, or even in a veterinary clinic, where it is not possible to build a Faraday cage.
The portable tomograph is equipped with a noise reduction system based on machine learning and neural networks. Technologies adapt not only to the environment in the room, but also to the person himself: body tissues — muscles, fat, blood — conduct radio waves differently, and the person himself becomes an antenna receiving interference. The neural network continuously analyzes these changing distortions and compensates for them so that the useful signal remains clear. At the same time, the AI does not work with the finished image, but with the original radio signals, from which the image will only be built. Algorithms clean up the signal before reconstruction, so the risk of non-existent elements appearing in the image is minimized.
Prospects for the introduction of a portable MRI machine
The development will be in demand primarily in traumatology, orthopedics and sports medicine — for the diagnosis of limbs, joints and ligaments, where an ultra-high field does not provide fundamental advantages, and accessibility and speed are much more important, says Nikolai Staroverov, associate professor of the Department of Electronic Devices and Devices at St. Petersburg State University of LETI. The second big niche is "bedside diagnostics" in intensive care, neonatology and intensive care units.
— The ability to roll the CT scanner directly to the bed fundamentally changes the logistics of the examination. The third area is regional clinics and small medical centers, for which the acquisition of classical MRI is economically difficult, as well as when examining patients with metal implants who are contraindicated from exposure to a strong magnetic field," the specialist told Izvestia.
According to him, portable medical diagnostics has become one of the trends in healthcare today. For example, the line of compact X-rays created at LETI is actively used in neonatology, in military field medicine, as well as in dentistry and maxillofacial diagnostics.
MRI in a weak field is not a competitor to large tomographs, but a solution where they are powerless, said molecular biologist Arina Kholkina.
— The neural network filters electromagnetic interference right during scanning, which eliminates the need for expensive shielding. If the developers manage to get the first brain scans by the end of the year, this will allow us to close one of the most critical tasks of emergency diagnosis of strokes, when the count is literally in minutes," she explained.
It is also important that a weak magnetic field opens up the possibility of examining patients with metal implants, for whom traditional MRI is contraindicated, which significantly expands the coverage, technology expert Leonid Drobyshevich emphasized.
However, it is important to understand that we are still talking about an experimental sample. The path from prototype to mass production, registration of a medical device and actual implementation into clinical practice is a long and resource—intensive one. The image quality on such devices is objectively inferior to high-field systems, and the use of the device will be justified where there is no alternative.
According to ITMO engineers, a serial portable tomograph will cost about 25 million rubles, and its annual maintenance should not exceed 1-2 million rubles. Work on the project started in early 2022 with the support of the Priority 2030 program.
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