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Is there a (theoretical) possibility of having portable MRI scanners someday? The size of a big suitcase or maybe even something like the tricorder in Star Trek

by vimy 5y ago

Is there a (theoretical) possibility of having portable MRI scanners someday? The size of a big suitcase or maybe even something like the tricorder in Star Trek. Like how we have portable ultrasound. https://www.ultrasoundportables.com/by-manufacturer/butterfly/butterfly-iq-ultrasound-scanner-for-iphone-and-android https://www.ultrasoundportables.com/by-manufacturer/butterfl... Although I realize an MRI scanner is a lot more complex.

Fordec 5y ago
While it's not the single barrier, but room temperature super conductors would go a ways to reduce the necessary bulk. But the magnetic fields would still be huge, you wouldn't want to just turn one on in your living room before some serious magnetic shielding technology was also invented.
jonnycomputer 5y ago
I attended a talk that was trying to develop something like that. Lots of challenges, but his goal was to make MRI cheap and portable. Sorry, I don't remember his name, but googling portable MRI or low-field MRI will give lots of results, e.g. this one: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/fda-approves-worlds-first-portable-mri-scanner/ https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/fda-approves-worlds-first-po...
axg11 5y ago
https://hyperfine.io/ https://hyperfine.io/ This is as close as we have right now.
version_five 5y ago
The scanner needs a static field that's homogeneous over the region you're imaging. And magnetic fields can't be homogeneous outside the bore of a magnet, i.e in free space (Ernshaw's theorem maybe). So any portable scanner has to either have a small, locally homogeneous spot (see Blümich et al from the late 90s or what Schlumberger has done with borehole logging) or be some kind of bigger closed thing like the Hyperfine systems that a sibling post mentioned. It's a very interesting field from a technical perspective, but there are fundamental physical principles standing in the way of making a portable scanner like an ultrasound
- hoseja 5y ago
  >The scanner needs a static field that's homogeneous over the region you're imaging. Does it? Couldn't you let go of that assumption with heaps of compute power?
  - version_five 5y ago
    What would you do with the compute power? There are some ways to correct for field inhomogeneity, but there are also fundamental limits like shorter signal lifetimes (or analogously bandwidth requirements) in inhomogeneous fields that you can't really get around. It's always possible there will be some advance, but I'm not aware of compute power as any real bottleneck

by vimy 5y ago

Fordec 5y ago

While it's not the single barrier, but room temperature super conductors would go a ways to reduce the necessary bulk. But the magnetic fields would still be huge, you wouldn't want to just turn one on in your living room before some serious magnetic shielding technology was also invented.

jonnycomputer 5y ago

I attended a talk that was trying to develop something like that. Lots of challenges, but his goal was to make MRI cheap and portable. Sorry, I don't remember his name, but googling portable MRI or low-field MRI will give lots of results, e.g. this one: https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/fda-approves-worlds-first-portable-mri-scanner/ https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/fda-approves-worlds-first-po...

axg11 5y ago

https://hyperfine.io/ https://hyperfine.io/ This is as close as we have right now.

version_five 5y ago

The scanner needs a static field that's homogeneous over the region you're imaging. And magnetic fields can't be homogeneous outside the bore of a magnet, i.e in free space (Ernshaw's theorem maybe). So any portable scanner has to either have a small, locally homogeneous spot (see Blümich et al from the late 90s or what Schlumberger has done with borehole logging) or be some kind of bigger closed thing like the Hyperfine systems that a sibling post mentioned. It's a very interesting field from a technical perspective, but there are fundamental physical principles standing in the way of making a portable scanner like an ultrasound

hoseja 5y ago
>The scanner needs a static field that's homogeneous over the region you're imaging. Does it? Couldn't you let go of that assumption with heaps of compute power?
- version_five 5y ago
  What would you do with the compute power? There are some ways to correct for field inhomogeneity, but there are also fundamental limits like shorter signal lifetimes (or analogously bandwidth requirements) in inhomogeneous fields that you can't really get around. It's always possible there will be some advance, but I'm not aware of compute power as any real bottleneck