In MRI this year, bigger is better — at least when it comes to field strength.
At RSNA 2000, the news is expected to be companies looking to advance their efforts in developing — and eventually marketing — MRI systems in the range of 3.0 tesla and greater.
Marconi Medical Systems Inc. (Highland Heights, Ohio) will have a full display in its MRI area. Among the highlights, Marconi plans to show a 3.0T MRI, which was in Chicago as a works-in-progress last year. The product is code-named Orion and is expected to ship in the middle of 2001. It currently is pending FDA clearance.
Applications for the Orion could include functional MRI, spectroscopy and angiography. Marconi is targeting two markets — oncology and interventional MRI.
Also new at Marconi MRI will be a 1.5T system that focuses on openness and image quality in whole-body imaging. Marconi expects to ship the first systems to beta sites in January with production beginning in June 2001. The product has not yet received FDA clearance.
As a works-in-progress, Marconi will show an unnamed high-field Open MR product. Michael Vitagliano, manager of MRI marketing, said Marconi has been working on this product for more than two years and will have images to show at RSNA.
A new version of the Via 3.0 software for Marconi’s Eclipse and Polaris MRI systems will be on display this year. Vitagliano says it has an interactive real-time user interface that allows users to establish protocols “on the fly” as they collect data. The new version will be available at no charge to all Marconi customers with a top-level service contract.
Hitachi Medical Systems America Inc. (Twinsburg, Ohio) will unveil its new Altaire advanced open MRI system. Hitachi says Altaire combines high-field performance with the patient comfort of an open MRI. Altaire uses superconducting technology to generate a 0.7 Tesla field strength in a vertical orientation and a variety of advanced imaging techniques can be applied with Altaire.
The advanced system employs a quadrature transmitter design for exceptionally high uniformity and the standard multiple array receiver platform offers high uniform signal-to-noise coverage to enhance patient throughput and reduce study times. Altaire’s computer system uses state-of-the-art technology featuring extremely fast processors with comprehensive multi-tasking capabilities.
Altaire is pending FDA 510(k) clearance. Hitachi anticipated a commercial release in January.
Toshiba America Medical Systems (TAMS of Tustin, Calif.) will introduce a high-tier version of its Opart MRI product, which targets larger hospitals and university settings. The new unit has 10 coils and extended sequences and was set to ship in early October at a list price of $1.2 million.
On the high-field side, TAMS will show Excelart XG with Pianissimo, a technology designed to reduce acoustic noise, without affecting image quality or scan time. Last year, Toshiba introduced Exelart with Pianissimo, but the XG has stronger gradients, a faster computer, and enhancements to some pulse sequences. The Excelart was submitted for FDA clearance in August.
Philips Medical Systems North America (Shelton, Conn.) has had a busy year in MRI. In March, the company began taking orders for its new Gyroscan Intera MRI scanner, which was introduced at RSNA last year. Philips since has focused the product with the Intera CV dedicated to cardiovascular MRI and the Intera I/T for interventional procedures.
At the European Congress of Radiology, the Gyroscan Panorama was introduced. The 0.23 tesla Panorama uses a unique C-arm magnet design for improvement patient comfort.
Philips this year also announced it was developing a 3.0 Tesla system under a collaboration with the University of Zurich in Switzerland. The new magnet will have all the same patient bore dimensions of existing Intera systems and will be optimized for functional MRI and brain mapping.
It is not just open MRI — now it’s “Mega Open.” That’s the message Fonar Corp. (Melville, N.Y.) brings to RSNA, as well as its recent FDA clearance of the Indomitable stand-up MRI system. The Indomitable is a full-body scanner that can image patients in a weight-bearing state in addition to recumbent positions. The 0.6 tesla system is designed to allow for dynamic full-range-of-motion studies, which Fonar says is especially promising for sports-related injuries.
The system is equipped with a motorized patient handling system to move the standing patient into the magnet and place the anatomy of interest into the magnet gap. It also can rotate the patient into a horizontal position.
GE Medical Systems (GEMS of Waukesha, Wis.) plans to focus on applications at this year’s RSNA, promising customers continued advancements in “bread-and-butter” MRI, while also debuting new possibilities for MRI in general diagnostic applications. Details are being kept under wraps until the curtain goes up at this year’s show.
GEMS’ emphasis on new applications is developing its MRI comprehensive cardiology exam, which allows physicians to perform a cardiovascular exam in approximately 30 minutes — from setup to function and perfusion and stress, through coronary imaging and infarction detection.
The company also will show improvements in technologies that support a hospital’s bread-and-butter MR imaging — spine, neuro and orthopedic, for example — with increased emphasis on gradient performance and high-field open segment technology.
Mallinckrodt Inc. (St. Louis) — recently purchased by Tyco International Ltd. (Pembroke, Bermuda) — will showcase OptiMark and the Optistar. The OptiMark is a MRI contrast agent used for image enhancement during MRI procedures. The Optistar is an MRI power injector, used for injecting contrast during the MRI procedure.
Mallinckrodt is the only company that offers pre-filled MR contrast agents, to use with power injectors. All of Mallinckrodt’s contrast agents and pre-filled syringes will be exhibited at the RSNA show.
Alliance Imaging Inc. (Anaheim, Calif.) will show two mobile MRI systems at RSNA to demonstrate the advantages of the shared-user concept. The two systems on display will be a Siemens Medical Systems (Iselin, N.J.) Sonata 1.5T system and GEMS’ Signa 1.5T system. Both will be housed in 48-foot trailers on the RSNA show floor.
