Portable MRI provides life-saving information to doctors treating
strokes

Date:
August 25, 2021
Source:
Yale University
Summary:
When patients exhibit stroke symptoms, doctors must quickly make
a life or death determination: Are their symptoms caused by a clot
that can be treated with blood thinners or by bleeding in the brain,
which may require surgery? A new study shows that a portable
MRI device can help identify such intracranial hemorrhages,
potentially life-saving information particularly in areas or
scenarios where access to sophisticated brain imaging scans are
not readily available.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
When patients exhibit stroke symptoms, doctors must quickly make
a life or death determination: Are their symptoms caused by a clot
that can be treated with blood thinners or by bleeding in the brain,
which may require surgery? A new Yale-led study shows that a portable
MRI device can help identify such intracranial hemorrhages, potentially life-saving information particularly in areas or scenarios where access
to sophisticated brain imaging scans are not readily available.


==========================================================================
The results were published Aug. 25 in the journal Nature Communications.

"There is no question this device can help save lives in resource-limited settings, such as rural hospitals or developing countries," said Kevin
Sheth, professor of neurology and neurosurgery at Yale School of Medicine
and co- corresponding author of the research. "There is also now a path
to see how it can help in modern settings. It is of critical importance
to continue to collect more data across a range of stroke characteristics
so that we can maximize the potential benefit of this approach." For the study, the research team examined the efficacy of a device known as the Portable Point-of-Care MRI system. According to researchers, it can be
wheeled down a hospital hallway, costs a fraction of traditional MRI technologies, and can be used almost anywhere by medical technicians
with even minimal training.

It was developed by Hyperfine Research Inc., a part of the Guilford, Connecticut-based medical technology incubator 4Catalyzer.

The Yale team, which was led by Sheth and Mercy Mazurek, a clinical
research analyst and first author, and co-corresponding author W. Taylor Kimberly of Massachusetts General Hospital, compared the results of
portable MRI scans of 144 patients at Yale New Haven Hospital with
results obtained from traditional neuroimaging scans. Specifically,
the portable MRI was used to scan brain injury patients at the bedside.

Neuroradiologists interpreting images acquired by Hyperfine's portable
MRI correctly identified 80% of intracerebral hemorrhages.

The study is the first to validate the appearance and clinical
implications of a brain hemorrhage using a portable MRI device.

Sheth and his team are also investigating the potential of portable
MRI technologies in helping diagnose and monitor head trauma and brain
tumors, and to assess brain health in people with risk factors such as
high blood pressure.

Researchers from Hyperfine also contributed to the paper. The research
was primarily funded by the American Heart Association, the National
Institutes of Health, and Hyperfine Research.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Yale_University. Original written
by Bill Hathaway. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Mercy H. Mazurek, Bradley A. Cahn, Matthew M. Yuen, Anjali
M. Prabhat,
Isha R. Chavva, Jill T. Shah, Anna L. Crawford, E. Brian Welch,
Jonathan Rothberg, Laura Sacolick, Michael Poole, Charles Wira,
Charles C. Matouk, Adrienne Ward, Nona Timario, Audrey Leasure,
Rachel Beekman, Teng J.

Peng, Jens Witsch, Joseph P. Antonios, Guido J. Falcone, Kevin T.

Gobeske, Nils Petersen, Joseph Schindler, Lauren Sansing, Emily J.

Gilmore, David Y. Hwang, Jennifer A. Kim, Ajay Malhotra, Gordon Sze,
Matthew S. Rosen, W. Taylor Kimberly, Kevin N. Sheth. Portable,
bedside, low-field magnetic resonance imaging for evaluation of
intracerebral hemorrhage. Nature Communications, 2021; 12 (1) DOI:
10.1038/s41467-021- 25441-6 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210825080336.htm

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