Picker introduces Outlook Proview open MRI

Patient handling and gradient coil performance are key ingredients of Picker International's Outlook Proview, a new high-performance open-style MRI system unveiled in May at the National Radiology Congress of Italy in Milan.

Proview features a 46-cm patient gap that, according to Picker, is the largest patient opening in its class. Side-first patient entry and a detachable couch build on the patient access theme. An optional second table featuring vertical motion allows the technologist to position the patient and the RF coil before wheeling the table into the imaging suite.

Gradient coil performance is a high point. Proview is equipped with 16-mtesla/m gradient coils that ramp up to peak amplitude in 25-mtesla/m/sec. Such gradient power enhances the quality of MR angiography and opens the door to ultra-fast sequences, such as single-shot fast spin-echo, according to the company.

Proview is also equipped with standard phased-array RF coils and a 433-MHz Microsoft Windows NT computer and operating system. According to industry sources, Picker will position Proview as a high-performance product in its open-style MRI product line, along with the company's well-established 0.23-tesla Outlook, which has been renamed Outlook Gold.