New data highlight the utility of portable MRI systems in hospitals
A new analysis highlights the utility of portable MRI scans across critical care, surgical and emergency settings and offers organizations considering implementing the bedside technology long-term data to consider.
Transporting a critically ill patient to a conventional MRI scanner can require substantial coordination and may introduce risks related to patient instability, monitoring equipment and interruption of intensive care. Portable systems address these challenges by bringing the scanner directly to the patient's bedside.
Such scanners generally provide lower spatial resolution and a more limited range of sequences than standard alternatives, making it a complement rather than a replacement for conventional MRI. These latest research findings, however, provide updated real-world evidence supporting the portable system's use as a reliable bedside neuroimaging option for critically ill patients and others who may face barriers to conventional MRI.
Researchers reviewed portable MRI utilization at an urban tertiary care center between 2018 and 2024, sharing their results in Neurology. Examinations were performed using a 0.064-T low-field MRI system in the emergency department, intensive care units and operating room. Of 1,173 attempted examinations, 1,060—or 90.4%—were successfully completed.
No serious adverse events occurred during the six-year period. Among the 113 examinations that were not completed, the most common reason was a patient requested to stop the scan, accounting for 77 cases (68.1%). These requests included physical discomfort in 27 patients, claustrophobia in 23 and unspecified reasons in 27; other exams were discontinued because patients were physically incompatible with the device (10), because of machine failure (8) or due to clinical instability (7).
The largest share of examinations was performed in the neuro ICU, which accounted for 523 scans, or 48.7% of the total. The emergency department accounted for another 346 examinations (32.2%), followed by the medical ICU with 58 (5.4%). In terms of clinical indications, acute ischemic stroke or stroke-code evaluations represented 371 examinations (32.4%), while intracerebral hemorrhage accounted for 131 (11.4%). Other indications included screening for white matter hyperintensities, tumors, subarachnoid hemorrhage and evaluation following cardiac arrest.
For radiology and neurology care teams, the technology could offer an additional imaging option when the clinical question can be addressed with lower-field MRI and transporting the patient to a conventional scanner is undesirable or unsafe, experts involved in the analysis suggested. They added that the portable tool is “safe, well-tolerated and feasible across acute care settings.”
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In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She began covering the medical imaging industry for Innovate Healthcare in 2021.