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

根据美国疾病控制与预防中心的数据，美国每年有超过80万人中风，其中大多数中风严重到足以使他们失去接受现代磁共振成像（MRI）制定的先进诊断标准的资格，主要原因是当患者处于强磁场的MRI扫描仪中时，无法准确监测患者的病情。这反过来又降低了监督医生正确诊断的能力，因为这些高危患者被排除在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测器，可以在MRI扫描期间持续高质量地监测患者状况，使高危患者受益于MRI诊断扫描和MRI图像引导治疗。对于临床医生来说，通过该产品，进行新的磁共振成像和图像引导手术的风险将大大降低。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适合MRI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性护理，更有可能出现先进的诊断性和功能性磁共振成像，以及MRI图像引导治疗，这可能成为患者护理的新标准。核磁共振兼容系统是指那些被认为可以在核磁共振扫描仪内安全操作的系统；典型的非磁性，最低导电性，并且对MRI扫描仪内存在的强且快速切换的磁场具有鲁棒性。拟议的产品将是一个高保真，MRI兼容的12导联心电图（ECG）记录系统，能够监测高风险患者（例如镇静和插管），以及低至中等风险的患者，这些患者可能需要延长MRI成像时间，在MRI扫描仪内他们将保持无人看管。该产品提供实时诊断质量监测，以前无法使用现有技术，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中患者的监测状态，这对重病患者至关重要，进而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.