Clinical Use of the Swoop Portable MR Imaging System

ABSTRACT

We have a large clinical experience (>500 patients) with the ultra-low-field, portable brain MRI (Swoop Portable MR Imaging System, Hyperfine; www.hyperfine.io). This video article gives an overview of the scanner characteristics, scan procedure, and representative clinical images obtained from our experience. The portable MRI system is a useful adjunct to high-field MRI for critically ill patients, avoiding the time and risks associated with moving critically ill patients and their life support teams from the intensive care unit to the conventional scanner. The ultra-low-field environment also allows for decreased susceptibility artifacts and improved safety, allowing patients with active and passive medical devices to have diagnostic MRI, which may not be otherwise available. We demonstrate substantial artifact reduction from extensive dental amalgam as well as safe scanning of a patient with a non-MR-conditional pacemaker. The ability to detect contrast enhancement at ultra-low-field with standard-dose IV gadolinium is also shown.