A SAFE AND COMPACT NEONATE TO ADULT NEUROIMAGING MRI SYSTEM

NIH SBIR PA-18-871 w/o Clinical Trials A Safe and Compact Neonate to Adult Neuroimaging MRI System The intriguing human brain is the most imaged end-organ non-invasively, without ionizing radiation using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). High spatial resolution brain MRI is an established diagnostic tool to assess injury mechanisms affecting newborn growth and the adult human connectome. To predict neuro- developmental outcome necessary to validate effectiveness of therapy in infants and adults, mapping dynamic anatomical and functional connectivity in the human brain is essential. However, many unstable premature newborns are kept from stat MRI diagnosis because transport to adult MRIs located remotely in the radiology department is highly risky. Serial MRI necessary to validate effectiveness of therapy or clinical intervention requiring multiple transports between the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and MRI sections places additional burden on the NICU staff and the baby. In its current form adult MRI's with many unrelated and unsuitable features for kids are expensive, complex and impractical for routine clinical use. The overall goal of this SBIR project is to create a compact MRI system, by combining innovations in patient-centric care and salient imaging technology. This safe system can be installed for whole-body imaging of sick children in the neonatal, pediatric and cardiac intensive care units. The `low-intrinsic risk' design ideal for safe pediatric use will be widely accepted by the hospital staff. The compact MRI is concurrently designed for imaging the adult brain, and suitable for installation in any hospital department or on a truck. The human connectome project (HCP) uses diffusion and BOLD-based functional MRI to derive whole-brain structural and functional connectivity maps for individual subjects at 1.25-2mm resolution (2-8µL voxels). Our research imaging goals are to attain targets between 0.125µL and 0.5µL isotropic voxels with the 100mT/m strong gradients over the neonatal and adult brain in support of research in reasonable scan times. Enhanced image quality obtained with the strong gradients can help unravel brain development and repair associated with a variety of neurological, psychiatric, neurodegenerative and congenital disorders. Our technology alleviates cost and safety burdens imposed by large foot-print adult whole-body MRIs on the hospital and pediatric patients. Multiple uses of the custom, compact MRI system with its combined patient-centric care and radiology approach proposed is original. A successful project will shift the trend from radiology based scanners to clinical departments where stat diagnosis is possible for pediatric patients and adults. Success of this project will stimulate development of a mobile mental health and stroke detection MRI systems, ultra-compact MRIs for extremity and small animal imaging, and mid- to low-field off-grid MRI for world use. A safer compact MRI for 0-2 year olds and adult is needed and will dramatically increase the quality of clinical MRI and connectome research. This project will also support advanced diagnosis in patients with lung, cardiac and musculoskeletal disorders.