‘Intelligent’ metamaterial makes MRIs affordable and accessible: “Boston University researchers have developed a new, “intelligent” metamaterial-which costs less than ten bucks to build-that could revolutionize magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), making the entire MRI process faster, safer, and more accessible to patients around the world.” [Science Daily / EurekAlert! / Phys.org]

Addressing long wait times with metamaterials: “MRI is used by clinicians to diagnose medical problems by spotting abnormalities that could indicate anything from a torn meniscus to muscular dystrophy. But MRIs are expensive, expose patients to radiation, and they take a long time−often the greater part of an hour for a single scan. Finding enough MRI time for waiting patients can be a problem, even in US hospitals, but in hospitals in some countries, waiting periods of a year or more can put patients’ lives at risk. So how do we speed up the MRI process without jeopardizing the quality of imaging? Zhang and her team are getting creative with metamaterials to solve the problem.” [Science Daily / EurekAlert! / Phys.org]

Boosting SNR without stronger magnets: “The quality of MRI images depends to a great extent on what’s called &ldquosignal-to-noise ratio,&rdquo or SNR. The higher the SNR, the better the image, and the most direct way to improve the SNR is to turn up the magnetic field. Unfortunately, any increase in the magnetic field also increases complexity and cost of the MRI, as well as potential risks to patients, whose tissue, and particularly, whose implanted medical devices, are literally heated up by the radiation. For that reason, radiologists who would like to get a better look inside a body cannot simply turn up the magnetic field strength. So Zhang and her collaborators developed a new metamaterial that, when placed beside the body part that is the target of a scan, boosts the energy emitted by the patient’s body, increasing SNR and improving MRI imaging.” [Science Daily / EurekAlert! / Phys.org]

Self-switching metamaterial shortens scan time: “Now, Zhang, Anderson, Zhao, and other team members have taken their development one big step further, developing what they call an &ldquointelligent&rdquo metamaterial that selectively boosts the low-energy emissions from the patient’s body, and literally turns itself off during the millisecond bursts of high-energy transmission from the machine. Shortening MRI examinations is paramount to maximizing the capacity. Not to mention revenue, as well as the overall patient experience of this powerful imaging technology.” [Science Daily / EurekAlert! / Phys.org]

Smart coil interaction reduces radiation risk: “The intelligent metamaterial consists of an array of metallic helical resonators closely packed with a passive sensor. When the high-energy radio waves are coming in, the metamaterial detects the high energy level and ‘turns off’ the resonance automatically. With low-energy radio excitation, the metamaterial turns on the resonance and enhances the magnetic component of the radio wave. That off-time, while only milliseconds long, allows clinicians to use the intelligent metamaterial to enhance the energy sent back to the MRI. It also diminishes the patient’s overall exposure to radio wave radiation and mitigates potential safety concerns, easing the path toward adoption of this technology in clinical imaging. They can now build smart materials that can interact with radio waves intelligently, enhancing the wanted signal while letting the unwanted signal go.” [Science Daily / EurekAlert! / Phys.org]

Toward affordable MRIs in all hospitals: “For clinicians to host the Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system they need rather expensive scanners and certain special facilities, which makes it difficult for hospitals everywhere to actually afford and maintain an MRI machine in their respective hospitals. The good news is, that thank to new metamaterials that have been developed; things will get seamless very soon. Boston University has developed these metamaterials in order to the quality of MRI imaging. As a result of their efforts, cost effective MRIs might soon become a reality as they will facilitate lower power MRI scanners whose outcome quality will be the same as the quality of already existing more powerful devices. Another reason which makes imaging quality superior is that the device’s functionality is turned off during transmission of radio signals by the scanner; while once the transmission is completed, immediately the functionality is turned on, left to boost the return signal’s power.” [Times Tech Pharma]

$10 coil array lifts global access to MRI: “Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) requires very expensive scanners, and special facilities to host them. As things stand, most hospitals around the world can’t afford an MRI machine. Things may soon get a bit easier thanks to new metamaterials, developed at Boston University, that improve the quality of MRI imaging. This development may allow lower power MRI scanners, which also cost less, to deliver imaging quality that is comparable with that of more powerful devices. The most obvious way to improve MRI image quality is to use ever more powerful magnets, but this is also the most expensive route. The Boston University team instead focused on improving the fidelity of the radio waves that are emitted by the body into the MRI machine. They have created a metamaterial device, which should cost about $10 to manufacture, that can be positioned next to the body part being imaged to automatically improve MRI image quality.” [Medgadget]

‘Quantum leap’ for low-cost, faster MRI imaging: “If such technology is made available commercially, it could revolutionize magnetic resonance imaging.” [Radiology Business] “The intelligent metamaterial amplifies SNR by tenfold, which greatly enhances image quality and reduces scan time, opening up a new way to obtain crisper MRI images at very low cost.” [The Market Jury] “The material as “intelligent” in that it amplifies the typically low-energy emissions from a patient’s body and shuts itself down during the short, high-energy bursts emitted by the MRI machine. Although those bursts last only milliseconds, that is enough to enhance the reflected energy from a patient and reduce their exposure to radiation.” [HealthImaging]

Coils of copper wire, big impact on imaging equity: “Safer, Faster, Crisper.” [Futurity] “Nonlinear metamaterials could revolutionize MRI scanning.” [MedImaging.net] “Increased signal in MR imaging without increasing RF power could help reduce scan times, increase department throughput and give more patients access to the diagnostic capabilities of MR. Not bad for a few coils of wire.” [Physics World] “Not only can the metamaterial boost signal-to-noise ratio 10-fold, but it can reduce scan times, potentially making the modality more widely available for patients at lower costs.” [HealthImaging]