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A portable scanner for magnetic resonance imaging of the brain

Nature Biomedical Engineering volume 5, pages 229–239 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Access to scanners for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is typically limited by cost and by infrastructure requirements. Here, we report the design and testing of a portable prototype scanner for brain MRI that uses a compact and lightweight permanent rare-earth magnet with a built-in readout field gradient. The 122-kg low-field (80 mT) magnet has a Halbach cylinder design that results in a minimal stray field and requires neither cryogenics nor external power. The built-in magnetic field gradient reduces the reliance on high-power gradient drivers, lowering the overall requirements for power and cooling, and reducing acoustic noise. Imperfections in the encoding fields are mitigated with a generalized iterative image reconstruction technique that leverages previous characterization of the field patterns. In healthy adult volunteers, the scanner can generate T1-weighted, T2-weighted and proton density-weighted brain images with a spatial resolution of 2.2 × 1.3 × 6.8 mm3. Future versions of the scanner could improve the accessibility of brain MRI at the point of care, particularly for critically ill patients.

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Fig. 1: Portable MRI brain scanner prototype.
Fig. 2: Permanent low-field magnet design.
Fig. 3: Gradient coil design.
Fig. 4: MRI pulse sequence diagram.
Fig. 5: 3D T2-, T1- and proton density-weighted images of the brain in healthy adult volunteers.
Fig. 6: Analysis of the measured encoding field maps (Gx, Gz and Gy) in the central field map slices.

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Data availability

The main data supporting the results of this study are available within the paper and its Supplementary Information. All reconstructed MATLAB image files and one exemplary raw dataset are available from GitHub at https://github.com/czcooley/portable-MRI.

Code availability

The MRI data were analysed using custom code in MATLAB 2018b. Image reconstruction and processing code is available from GitHub at https://github.com/czcooley/portable-MRI. Field-mapping MATLAB code and TNMR files are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank T. Witzel for valuable advice over the course of developing the system, as well as specific assistance with consoles; M. Haskell for contributing to the magnet design algorithm; M. David for assistance with the gradient nonlinearity analysis; S. Sigalovsky for the construction of mechanical components; J. Conklin for insightful discussions on clinical applications; and N. Koonjoo for help with the helmet coil design. The research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health under award nos. R01EB018976, 5T32EB1680 and R00EB021349.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, USA

    Clarissa Z. Cooley, Patrick C. McDaniel, Jason P. Stockmann, Sai Abitha Srinivas, Stephen F. Cauley, Monika Śliwiak, Charlotte R. Sappo, Christopher F. Vaughn, Bastien Guerin, Matthew S. Rosen & Lawrence L. Wald

  2. Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Clarissa Z. Cooley, Jason P. Stockmann, Stephen F. Cauley, Bastien Guerin, Matthew S. Rosen, Michael H. Lev & Lawrence L. Wald

  3. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Patrick C. McDaniel

  4. Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Matthew S. Rosen

  5. Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Michael H. Lev

  6. Harvard–MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Lawrence L. Wald

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Contributions

C.Z.C., P.C.M., J.P.S., S.A.S., C.R.S., C.F.V., M.S., M.S.R. and L.L.W. contributed to or advised on system design, implementation and validation experiments. C.Z.C., J.P.S., S.F.C. and B.G. contributed to development of the image reconstruction method. M.H.L. provided guidance for clinical application and subsequent design choices. C.Z.C. wrote the manuscript. All authors contributed to reviewing and editing the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Clarissa Z. Cooley.

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Competing interests

M.H.L. is a consultant for GE Healthcare and receives research funding from GE Healthcare. L.L.W. and S.F.C. receive research funding from Siemens Healthineers. M.S.R. is a co-founder of Hyperfine Research and receives research funding from GE Healthcare. C.Z.C., J.P.S. and L.L.W. are listed as inventors on a patent (US patent 10,359,481) filed by Partners HealthCare for portable MRI using a rotating array of permanent magnets. C.Z.C., J.P.S., B.G., M.S.R. and L.L.W. are listed as inventors on a patent (US patent application 16/092,686) filed by Partners HealthCare for the use of swept RF pulses applied with RF spatial phase gradients. C.Z.C., J.P.S. and L.L.W. are consultants and equity holders for Neuro42, Inc.

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Cooley, C.Z., McDaniel, P.C., Stockmann, J.P. et al. A portable scanner for magnetic resonance imaging of the brain. Nat Biomed Eng 5, 229–239 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-020-00641-5

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