I-Corps: High Risk Patient Monitoring during Magnetic Resonance Imaging

根据疾病控制和预防中心的数据，美国每年有超过80万人经历中风，其中大多数严重到足以使他们失去接受现代磁共振成像（MRI）提出的先进诊断标准的资格，主要是由于当他们在强磁场的MRI扫描仪内时无法准确监测患者状况。 这反过来又降低了监督医生正确诊断的能力，因为这些高风险患者被排除在MRI诊断和后续治疗之外。I-Corps团队提出的技术是一种患者监护仪，可以在MRI扫描期间持续高质量地监测患者状况，使高风险患者能够从MRI诊断扫描和MRI图像引导治疗中受益。 对于临床医生来说，通过该产品，将大大降低执行新的MR成像和图像引导程序的风险。 对于医院、MRI扫描仪和生命支持制造商来说，他们的服务可以扩展到以前不符合MRI条件的新患者群体，从而获得竞争优势。对于患者来说，他们可以获得并接受更高质量的诊断护理，先进的诊断和功能性MR成像以及MRI图像引导治疗的出现具有更大的潜力，这些可能成为患者护理的新标准。MRI兼容系统是指在MRI扫描仪内安全运行的系统;通常为非磁性、导电性极低，并且对MRI扫描仪内存在的强磁场和快速切换磁场具有鲁棒性。 申报产品将是一种高保真、MRI兼容的12导联心电图（ECG）记录系统，能够监测高风险患者（例如，正在接受镇静和插管）以及低至中等风险患者，这些患者可能需要延长MR成像会话，在此期间，他们将在MRI扫描仪内保持无人值守。该产品提供了实时诊断质量监测，以前使用当前技术无法实现，同时不影响MRI扫描仪的操作和诊断能力。 该产品可以极大地改善MRI中的患者监测状态，这对患有癌症的患者至关重要，并随后改善患者的医疗保健状态。

Over 800,000 people in the US experience a stroke each year according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, a majority of which is severe enough to disqualify them from receiving the advanced diagnostic standard set forth by modern Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), primarily due to the inability to accurately monitor patient conditions while they are inside an MRI scanner present with strong magnetic fields. This in turn degrades the ability of the overseeing physician to properly diagnose, as those high-risk patients are excluded from MRI diagnosis and follow-up treatments. This I-Corps team's proposed technology is a patient monitor which allows for continuous high quality monitoring of patient conditions during MRI scans, permitting high-risk patients to benefit from MRI for diagnostic scans and MRI image-guided treatments. For clinicians, the risk in performing new MR imaging and image-guided procedures will be greatly reduced through this product. For hospitals, MRI scanner, and life support manufacturers, their services can be expanded to a new patient group that was previously ineligible for MRI, allowing for a competitive advantage. For patients, they can access and receive a higher quality of diagnostic care, with a larger potential for the emergence of advanced diagnostic and functional MR imaging, and MRI image-guided treatments which may become new standards for patient care. MRI-compatible systems are those deemed safe for operation within the MRI scanner; typically non-magnetic, minimally conductive, and robust against the strong and rapidly switched magnetic fields present within the MRI scanner. The proposed product will be a high-fidelity, MRI-compatible 12-lead Electrocardiogram (ECG) recording system, capable of monitoring high-risk patients (e.g. being sedated and intubated), as well as low- to med-risk patients, who may require an extended MR imaging session, in which they would remain unattended within the MRI scanner. The product provides real-time diagnostic quality monitoring, previously unavailable using current technologies, while not compromising the operation and diagnostic ability of the MRI scanner. This product could greatly improve the state of patient monitoring in the MRI, which is critical for severely-ill patients, and subsequently the state of patient healthcare.