The University of Aberdeen has developed the world’s first Field Cycling Imager, which can identify brain damage in stroke patients at lower magnetic fields than ever before.
Derived from MRI technology, the Field Cycling Imager (FCI) works at ultra-low magnetic fields, allowing radiographers to see how organs are affected by diseases in previously unseen ways.
Its improved safety also enables “exciting possibilities” for creation of systems tailored to ambulances and other out-of-hospital settings, the University of Aberdeen said.
'Initial findings are very exciting'
FCI scanners are designed to be able to vary the strength of the magnetic field during the patient’s scan, including going down to magnetic fields of less strength than a fridge magnetic, while still obtaining good quality images.
Varying magnetic fields in this way is similar to having multiple scanners working at one, meaning it can extract more and different information than a traditional MRI.
Professor of stroke medicine Mary Joan McLeod said: “Our initial findings are very exciting, as they reflect the first step to producing a device that would be safe and small enough to put in an ambulance so that stroke patients can have a diagnosis and start treatment before they reach hospital.
“We have also shown that the new scanner can also identify bleeds in the brain and changes in the small blood vessels which might lead to dementia. We know that there are lots of other exciting potential applications for this technology in areas such as cancer and bone disease. We would like to thank all the patients who have so enthusiastically helped us get to this stage.”
Pointing the way forward
A paper published in Radiology, the world’s foremost radiology journal, shows that the stroke area due to a blocked blood vessel in the brain produces a consistently different signal from normal brain at very low magnetic field strengths – a factor of 10,000 lower than traditional MRI and 100 times lower than other low field systems.
Professor David Lurie, emeritus professor of medical physics said: “It is fantastic that Field-Cycling Imaging, which the Aberdeen team has been developing for more than a decade, is now showing its value in the assessment of stroke. This work points the way forward for FCI, with benefits to patients and health services worldwide.”
Dr Lionel Broche, senior research fellow in biomedical physics, said: “This success is the result of a long research effort and a strong collaboration between the University of Aberdeen and the stroke team at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. As we keep improving the technology for field-cycling imaging, we are starting to see new signals with great potential for clinical applications.
“We are now planning the continuation of this study on stroke using the next design iteration of our field-cycling technology, which will be located directly inside the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. This will make it directly accessible for more patients and will open many opportunities for medical research. These are exciting times!”
(Image: Professor Mary Joan McLeod)