Portable MRI Technology for Neonatal Care

项目概要/摘要 磁共振成像（MRI），尤其是弥散对比，已成为无可争议的标准 检测和诊断新生儿脑部疾病和损伤（例如缺氧缺血性）的护理 脑病（HIE）。然而，这些大型、昂贵、潜在危险的仪器的性质限制了 无障碍，并要求患者被运送到放射科套房。在新生儿重症监护室 （NICU）设置，患者转移引入了安全问题，因为它需要完全移交患者护理 这是一个非常大的问题，它使新生儿暴露在运输和噪音的压力之下。尤其是HIE患者 通常在出生后的几天内都不够稳定，无法转移到扫描仪上。相反，床边颅骨 成像是用超声进行的，超声对与HIE相关的早期异常具有低灵敏度。 我们专门为NICU中新生儿脑部成像的需求设计了一款床旁扫描仪。的 建议的扫描仪将被运送到NICU的床边，优先考虑最低限度的处理， 婴儿的操作和真正的POC诊断和监测。我们显著地减小了尺寸， 通过设计用于新生儿所需的较小FOV， 脑成像并且显著地偏离了规范的扫描仪设计。磁体、场梯度和RF 线圈将针对较小的成像体积进行优化，以最大化图像质量。若要允许在 射频屏蔽室，我们提出了一种EMI缓解方法，回顾性地消除文物使用外部 探测器由于DWI成像在HIE患者人群中非常有价值，我们将开发RARE DWI 非常规扫描仪架构的序列。新扫描仪将首先通过 具有真实组织特性的拟人化新生儿体模，然后在MGH新生儿ICU作为 除了对HIE患者的标准治疗外。我们将确定POC MRI是否能提供有价值的早期诊断， 关于大脑状况的信息，这在后来的高场MRI图像中得到证实， 婴儿足够稳定，可以转移到传统扫描仪。

Project Summary/Abstract Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), especially with diffusion contrast, has been the undisputed standard of care for the detection and diagnosis of neonatal brain disorders and injuries such as Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). However, the nature of these large, expensive, potentially dangerous instruments limits accessibility and requires that patients be transported to a radiology suite. In the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) setting, patient transfer introduces safety concerns, since it requires a full hand-off of patient care responsibilities and exposes the neonate to stress from transport and acoustic noise. In particular, HIE patients are often not stable enough to transfer to the scanner for several days after birth. Instead bed-side cranial imaging is performed with ultrasound, which has a low sensitivity for early abnormalities associated with HIE. We design a bed-side scanner specifically for the needs of neonatal brain imaging in an NICU. The proposed scanner will be transported to the bedside in the NICU, prioritizing minimal handling and manipulation of the infant and enabling true POC diagnostics and monitoring. We significantly reduce the size, cost, and complexity of conventional MRI hardware by designing for the smaller FOV needed for neonatal brain imaging and significantly depart from the canonical scanner design. The magnet, field gradients, and RF coils will be optimized for the smaller imaging volume to maximize image quality. To allow operation outside an RF shielded room, we propose an EMI mitigation method that retrospectively removes artifacts using external detectors. As DWI imaging is highly valuable in the HIE patient population, we will develop a RARE DWI sequence for the unconventional scanner architecture. The new scanner will first be validated with an anthropomorphic neonatal phantom with realistic tissue properties and then at the MGH Neonatal ICU as an addition to the standard care of HIE patients. We will determine if the POC MRI offers valuable early information about the brain condition, which is corroborated in later high-field MRI images obtained when the baby is stable enough to be transferred to the conventional scanner.