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Overwhelming Benefits Offset
High Costs of Magnetic Resonance Imaging Systems
Due to the prohibitive purchase
and installation costs of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, both patients
and physicians are reluctant to invest in them-unless they are assured of
investment or procedural expenditure returns. Nevertheless, MRI scans'
compelling benefits of non-invasiveness and elimination of harmful ionised
radiation are helping them make the cut in the commercial market.
MRI scans provide images of any
part of the body, in any plane, and offer more detailed information than X-rays
or computed tomography (CT) scans can. Furthermore, the MRI contrast materials
used for image enhancement have very low incidence of side effects.
"As the mid- and high-field
scanners experience a higher adoption rate, sales in low-field scanners are
certainly dipping," says Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Sangeetha Prabakar.
"The mid- and high-field scanners provide benefits such as additional
applications, faster scan times and increased image quality; thereby, having a
greater market impact on MRI."
However, low-field scanners are
not expected to completely disappear because customers and clinics that seek
cheaper imaging modalities will still provide a healthy and steady market for
them.
Once market barriers of tight
research budgets, complexity of the instrument, and high costs of MRI scans are
resolved, healthcare units are likely to increase adoption of these systems.
Apart from market barriers, the
MRI industry will also have to find solutions to technical issues such as
scanning of people wearing pacemakers, orthopaedic hardware (screws, plates,
artificial joints) aneurysm clips, or dental implants. These devices cause
severe artifacts while imaging, thereby compromising the accuracy of the image.
These technical challenges are currently being focussed by many technology
developers striving to manufacture pacemakers, metallic implants and aneurism
clips which are MRI compatible.
Due to the ever-increasing
demand for patient comfort, the need to replace conventional closed MRI systems
with open MRI systems, which eliminate concerns such as patients'
claustrophobia, size and weight, has intensified.
"Philips Medical Systems'
Panorama 1.0T high-field open MRI is the first truly open high field MR system
with active shielding, which offers the most open environment for patient
comfort and advanced imaging performance," observes Ms. Prabakar. "Its actively
shielded lightweight magnet enables the system to be installed in almost any
existing MR suite with minimised siting costs."
Meanwhile, Siemens Medical
Solutions has introduced the revolutionary total imaging matrix (Tim)
technology, based on the matrix coil concept. This technology not only enables
whole body imaging in a single sitting and thereby, doing away with the need for
body repositioning, it also enhances the acquisition speed and image quality in
local examinations.
By limiting the exposure time
for a head-to-toe scan to twelve minutes, Tim technology eliminates
claustrophobia by 80 per cent and significantly reduces noise. While these
factors make MRI scanning less stressful for patients, it also greatly improves
workflow in hospitals and lowers life cycle costs.
Since many technology
developers have begun to take to the concept of open MRI with higher field
strength, physicians have been able to conduct faster, hassle-free scans that
also provide better image quality and often, higher accuracy. This kind of
technology revolution in medical imaging benefits both patients and physicians...
Continued
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