HKU Stroke was recently involved in a study led by the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, the University of Hong Kong, in developing an ultra-low-field (ULF) brain MRI scanner (0.055-Tesla (T)).
The study demonstrated the technical feasibility of a new class of cost-effective MRI technology by designing and constructing a prototype adult brain ULF MRI scanner that operates on a standard alternating current wall power outlet (two-phase 220V 15A) in the absence of any radiofrequency and magnetic shielding cages.
The study was also able to demonstrate the preliminary feasibility in diagnosing stroke and brain cancer cases as compared to conventional 3-T MRI and found that the 0.055-T MRI was able to detect most key pathologies in the 25 patients studied.
The development of such ULF MRI technologies will be able to fulfill unmet clinical needs and has the potential to make MRI more widely accessible in different healthcare settings, as well as in low and middle-income countries.
These research findings have been published in “Nature communications”. For more details, please visit the enclosed link:
The HKU press release: