More Mobile Future For Mri : Blog : GE Global Research

A more mobile future for MRI

Hi, I’m Minfeng Xu, an Electrical Engineer in Electromagnets and Superconductivity Lab at GE Global Research. I am a Principal Investigator on the development of a future Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) system that would enable easier installation of these systems in most hospitals, even in underdeveloped regions. I have been working in the superconducting magnet technology development area for 18 years, and I am an Advisory Committee member of the IEEE Council on Superconductivity.

MRI is a relatively new medical diagnostic image scanner that provides high contrast and detailed structure of the body. Current high-resolution superconducting MRI systems are costly, heavy, and require a large amount of cryogen. These limit the installation of MRI in underdeveloped or underserviced regions.

Under an NIH grant, we are developing a cryogen-free MRI system that uses a different type of superconductor, magnesium-diboride (MgB2), to generate the strong magnetic field necessary for a high-resolution MRI. The cryogen-free technology will make a system less costly, lighter, and much easier to install, especially in regions that cryogen and cryogen services are limited. The MgB2 magnet technology could potentially reduce the system cost significantly so that more hospitals and clinics can afford to have these systems.

Imagine a lighter and smaller MRI system in an ambulance that can be dispatched for emergency care. Imagine a slim MRI system, like the one shown in the figure, installed in your doctor’s office that can be used for a quick scan when you need it. We are working toward it, and we feel very happy about it.

January 27th, 2010 | Healthcare, Imaging

« Previous

Main

Comments

Great article… and keep up the good work!

GE should be grateful that the late Dr. David Ryan went the extra mile to secure GE the original NIH grant for this project in 2004.

Dr. Walter Cicha | 1/28/10, 6:45 PM

Great work Minfeng, good luck and I’ll keep watching for updates

Michael Creel | 1/29/10, 2:30 AM

Just wondering if the precautions joked about in the “MR Jokes (Kinda)” GE Adventure post http://geadventure.com/2009/08/mr-jokes-kinda/ are still true with the new MgB2 based MRI machine

Gheorghe Curelet-Balan | 1/29/10, 12:57 PM

It is very promising application, even though the magnetic field will be hardly higher than 0.5 T or will it? How about low n-value of the MgB2 wire at present? For a driven magnet one needs additional refrigiration power. Is it possible to achieve with the beautiful slick design shown on the picture?

Thanks

Alexander Akhmetov | 1/29/10, 3:15 PM

It’s really exciting to see mobile MRI coming out, I’m more and more intrigued by GE engineers.

Shelley Zhang | 2/15/10, 9:19 PM

I appreciate Minfeng Xu’s 18 years of experience and membership in IEEE, but magnesium-diboride (MgB2) still requires a temperature of 39 degrees Kelvin to become a Super-Conductor. For reference the two most common cryogens in MRI & NMR systems are Liquid Nitrogen at 77 degrees Kelvin and Liquid Helium is 4 degrees Kelvin. MgB2 still requires a cryogenic environment to be a Super-Conductor.

For reference 0 K is absolute zero, which is VERY cold. 273 K is the freezing point of water. ~300 K is room temperature (65 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit).

While several studies have been done on magnesium-diboride (MgB2) “The origin of the anomalous superconducting properties of MgB2,” by Hyoung Joon Choi, David Roundy, Hong Sun, Marvin L. Cohen, and Steven G. Louie, appears in the 15 August 2002 issue of Nature. This and many other related studies reconfirm that MgB2 requires cryogenic conditions of 39 degrees Kelvin to work as a Super-Conductor.

Could Minfeng Xu please provide a reference work upon which to support the utilization of MgB2 at room temperature of ~300 K, (65 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit).

Also magnetic fields diminish at an inverse square. The flux field required for molecular spin resolution needs to be in the multiple Tesla range. How can it be proposed to make that large a flux field mobile?

To get current resolution quality it is also required to have a VERY laminar flux field, which is why existing MRI magnetic cores are as long as they are and require supporting structures (such as cryogen reservoirs and insulation space). How is it proposed to abbreviate these base physics requirements?

Richard Barrett | 3/05/10, 5:22 PM

Richard, you are missing an important detail. Minfeng is speaking about cryogen-free in terms of cooling process. In general, cryogen-free does not mean that you work at room temperature, it simply means that you use a cryo-cooler to provide the cooling power and run the magnet at the desired operating temperature at which the wires are superconducting. The lower is the temperature and the higher is the current that you can run through the wires and, thus, the generated magnetic field (easily in a few Tesla range). It could well be that Minfeng is on the list of a Nobel prize for some past discoveries, but not for room temperature superconducting wires, as far as I know