GE Healthcare and the Mayo Clinic have received a grant for $5.7 million from the U.S. National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) to develop a dedicated brain MRI scanner to study neurological and psychiatric disorders.
Research funded by the grant will use the scanner to image disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, traumatic brain disorder, depression, and autism. The Mayo team is being led by medical physicist Matthew Bernstein, PhD, and neuroradiologist Dr. John Huston III.
GE believes that a head-only MRI scanner would address 25% to 30% of all MRI procedures, while enabling scans to be performed at a lower cost. The goal of the research is ultimately to understand and address the technical issues involved in dedicated MR brain imaging.
GE researchers will develop the prototype scanner over the next three years, and the system will then be tested in clinical trials at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, for the remaining two years. The scanner will be assessed and compared to standard whole-body scanners in use today.
