The Hyperfine: a portable MRI machine ready to save many lives.
September 12, 2022
The medical field is making advancements on walking MRI (an MRI machine on wheels). This machine is being made more often in hospitals so that patients that need medical attention ASAP can get it. If a patient is in a life-threatening situation and the doctors are unable to access an MRI machine the “Hyperfine” will be at their disposal.” Assessing a stroke demands a rapid, life-or-death assessment: Is the culprit a clot, which requires a blood thinner, or bleeding in the brain, which requires surgery? Now, a portable MRI device can help make that assessment right at a patient’s bedside and get into an MRI room fast enough they can easily bring the MRI to them.” according to AAMCNEWS.
Portable MRIs are and will be a really big contribution to the medical and surgical field. The portable MRI is called “Hyperfine.” “Hyperfine” has a smaller magnet than the regular MRI making it not as strong as a regular MRI but just as functional. The goal of the “Hyperfine” is to be accessible and movable from room to room and produce medical images that can make clinical decisions. “The goal is not to be as good as a high-magnet MRI, but to be good enough for clinical decisions,” says Seth, the co-author of the study on the “Hyperfine.” The size of the “Hyperfine” is compared to a refrigerator, a little smaller than that.
The average price for a “Hyperfine” is $100,000 compared to the regular sized MRI which is $1 million dollars. Benefits of hospitals having “Hyperfines” in their facility can go on forever, many people will be saved due to this medical advancement.