Desk-sized MR scanner tackles arthritis

Article

Assessment with MR is essential for the early detection of rheumatoid arthritis in the hands and the monitoring of drug therapy, but hand studies are not cost-effective. That's where the Japanese firm MR Technology of Tsukuba, in the prefecture of Ibaraki, comes in.

 

Assessment with MR is essential for the early detection of rheumatoid arthritis in the hands and the monitoring of drug therapy, but hand studies are not cost-effective. That's where the Japanese firm MR Technology of Tsukuba, in the prefecture of Ibaraki, comes in.

The company, working with the Institute of Applied Physics at the University of Tsukuba, has developed a compact whole-hand MRI system using a 0.3T permanent magnet with a 16-cm gap. The scanner, with a 1.5 × 2-m footprint, produces an ellipsoidal imaging space covering 22 × 22 × 8 cm.

In a session at the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine meeting in May, the research team presented clinical experience with the scanner. Exams visualizing the whole hand were accomplished in six minutes.

Images included a fat-suppressed 2D scan obtained with a STIR-3D-FSE sequence acquired in less than 11 minutes.

A 3D maximum intensity projection image reconstructed from the fat-suppressed 3D image data set showed suppression of the bone marrow fat signal while visualizing long T2-weighted data returned by joint fluid and blood.

The researchers concluded that the system has potential to be used for whole-hand examinations to assess patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

-By Greg Freiherr

Recent Videos
Improving Access to Nuclear Imaging: An Interview with SNMMI President Jean-Luc C. Urbain, MD, PhD
SNMMI: 18F-Piflufolastat PSMA PET/CT Offers High PPV for Local PCa Recurrence Regardless of PSA Level
SNMMI: NIH Researcher Discusses Potential of 18F-Fluciclovine for Multiple Myeloma Detection
SNMMI: What Tau PET Findings May Reveal About Modifiable Factors for Alzheimer’s Disease
Emerging Insights on the Use of FES PET for Women with Lobular Breast Cancer
Can Generative AI Reinvent Radiology Reporting?: An Interview with Samir Abboud, MD
Mammography Study Reveals Over Sixfold Higher Risk of Advanced Cancer Presentation with Symptom-Detected Cancers
Combining Advances in Computed Tomography Angiography with AI to Enhance Preventive Care
Study: MRI-Based AI Enhances Detection of Seminal Vesicle Invasion in Prostate Cancer
What New Research Reveals About the Impact of AI and DBT Screening: An Interview with Manisha Bahl, MD
Related Content
© 2025 MJH Life Sciences

All rights reserved.