In addition to servicing the magnets, storage sites provide maintenance for the trailers. This includes checking the brakes, suspension, hoses, belts, the generator and monitoring fuel. Technicians also make sure the air conditioning and heating units are running properly as are the chiller and electrical systems.

Helium costs on the rise
Over the past two years liquid helium rates have doubled from $4 to $8 a day on average and are expected to continue to rise by 4 to 5 percent annually. This adds to the cost of maintaining mobile MRI units, as traveling magnets boil off more quickly than stationary ones.
Although helium costs may be on the rise today, dependence on helium will eventually drop with the introduction of newer low-cryogen consumption MRI units.

“The newer systems currently being manufactured are either zero boil off or reduced boil off systems, lowering the demand on liquid helium in the field. As older systems are replaced with newer systems, consumption [will decrease],” says Freund.

This trend is supported by the National Institutes of Health, which earlier this year awarded GE Health a $3.27 million grant to develop magnets without helium vessels. Because the large vessels that store liquid helium inflate the cost of the system, GE plans to eliminate the need for liquid helium by replacing the coils of niobium-titanium superconducting wire used in its current magnets with magnesium diboride.

The low-cryogen consumption magnets are only partly responsible for rendering the older units obsolete. Access to improved technology is the principal factor driving down the value of older units.

"On the MRI site, the demand for certain technologies, for example the four-channel system, is quickly being phased out. In terms of the cost of operating those older systems, they use more helium," said Holmberg.

Down the road
Over the next five years, many experts believe there will be fewer mobile MRIs on the road than there are today. Some will fit the need of mobile asset facilities and others will be sold off to entities that sell to the hospitals.

"Generally, when systems get to a point when a facility can afford them, a facility wants to buy their own, and there are fewer mobile opportunities. The anchor sites are able to afford those assets before the price comes down and the mobile MRI industry becomes more challenged. It's more affordable to buy your own MRI," says Holmberg.




Ambrose agrees that down the road, fixed-sites will dominate the market.

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