by
Lauren Dubinsky, Senior Reporter | October 02, 2017
From the October 2017 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
The new suite of neuro-diagnostic applications are equipped with unique features like MultiBand SENSE, which allows for the simultaneous acquisition of multiple slices of the brain during fMRI exams. It also gives radiologists the option to increase coverage or resolution without prolonging the scan.
The Black Blood Imaging feature reduces the blood signal, which generates a high-resolution 3-D brain image, and the 4-D-TRANCE feature provides contrast-free 4-D imaging of the brain vascular anatomy.
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“The main driver behind [developing the suite] was that we saw that a lot of radiologists still had difficulty answering the more complex questions in the domain of neurology,” says Hartjes. “We did some assessments of the main areas and built a suite around that.”
Progress toward personalized MR
As value-based care becomes more prevalent, personalized medicine is playing a bigger role in managing population health. But treatment is only one side of the coin — diagnostics is on the other side.
ECRI’s Launders explains that it’s been a gradual trend over the last 10 to 15 years. It started with dedicated coils and then general purpose and matrix coils were introduced, which are easier to position on patients.
In March, Siemens launched its Magnetom Vida 3T MR at the University Hospital Tübingen in Germany. It’s the first system equipped with the company’s BioMatrix technology, which adjusts the system to fit the anatomy and physiology of each patient.
The system uses intelligent body models to automatically move the patient table into the correct scan position. The BioMatrix sensors inside the table track patients’ respiratory patterns to assess if they can hold their breath during the exam.
The BioMatrix tuners improve the quality and reproducibility of whole-body diffusion, which helps avoid repeat scans. It also controls the scan parameters in real time in order to stay consistent with the patient’s anatomy and avoid distortions that make the diffusion image non-diagnostic.
"Siemens' introduction looks like very exciting technology, but it’s going to take time before you see it everywhere,” says Launders.
He adds that it was the same case with wide-bore technology when Toshiba Medical introduced it 10 years ago, and technology that makes the exam quieter. All new systems now feature both of those technologies.
New coil introductions
For the Magnetom Vida, Siemens also introduced new coils, including ultra-flex coils for shoulders, knees and other parts of the body. They are high density coils made of memory foam material for easier use.
