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by rasmus1610 763 days ago
I'm a radiologist and very sceptic about low-field MRI + ML actually replacing normal high-field MRI for standard diagnostic purposes.

But in a emergency setting or especially for MRI-guided interventions these low-field MRIs can really play a significant role. Combining these low-field MRIs with rapid imaging techniques makes me really excited about what interventional techniques become possible.
2 comments
sitkack 763 days ago
There is an opinion piece in the same issue that agrees with you.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adp0670

> This machine costs a fraction of current clinical scanners, is safer, and needs no costly infrastructure to run (2). Although low-field machines are not capable of yielding images that are as detailed as those from high-field clinical machines, the relatively low manufacturing and operational costs offer a potential revolution in MRI technology as a point-of-care screening tool.

I don't think this machine is being billed as replacement to high-field machines.

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xattt 763 days ago
> I don't think this machine is being billed as replacement to high-field machines.

Countries where health regulation is less developed are likely to see misrepresentation where this form of MRI will be equated to full-field MRI by snake oil salesmen.

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nullc 763 days ago
The US government bought divining rods to detect IED's in Iraq. Dumb stuff happens, but we achieve so much in spite of it.
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ahaferburg 763 days ago
You mean this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADE_651 If you did, the US government didn't buy those, but Iraq did.
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bagels 763 days ago
What is it about lower fields that means you cannot get a good image? Interference? Tissue movement in longer exposures? Why can't the device just integrate over a longer period of time?
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pbmonster 763 days ago
It's just the physical reality of nuclear magnetic resonance. SNR scales with B^(3/2), since the signal scales with B^2 and the noise scales with root B.

This means going from 0.05T to 1.5T boosts your sensitivity ~150x. Measurement time scales with sensitivity^2, so you'd have to measure 20k x longer.

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