GE Healthcare and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, have teamed up to develop a compact, investigational 3-tesla MRI research scanner.
The new prototype superconducting 3-tesla magnet is approximately one-third the size of a conventional system and requires a fraction of the liquid helium to operate, according to GE and the Mayo Clinic. The smaller size also helps reduce electrical power usage and significantly increases the scan speed, they added.
The new device is designed to perform head scans and to image small extremities such as the wrists, feet, and ankles. Those studies account for approximately 45% of the Mayo Clinic's clinical MRI volume.
In its initial evaluation, the scanner produced high-quality images for advanced applications, which include diffusion MRI, functional MRI, and MR elastography, according to Mayo.
Developed under a National Institutes of Health Bioengineering Research Partnership between GE's Global Research Center and the Mayo Clinic, the compact MRI was installed earlier this year in the Charlton North Building on Mayo's Rochester campus.
The Mayo Clinic plans to show the scanner to an invitation-only audience on June 28.
