Breast imaging
Perhaps the biggest buzz for coils today is about research indicating breast MRI may trump CT in discovering breast cancer.

“Breast MRI is an area that is increasing in business, absolutely,” says Nick Hersman, associate product manager for MRI coils with Medrad. “There are a number of folks out there that are manufacturing scanners and coils just for breast MRI. That part of radiology has seen a spike in growth and there have been some interesting things that have come out of it.”
Aurora Imaging’s 1.5 Tesla Dedicated Breast MRI System is specifically engineered to image breast anatomy and offers proprietary breast-dedicated gradient coils, and RF coils built into the treatment couch.

An American Cancer Society study from 2007 recommended the use of MRI as a screening tool for women at high risk for breast cancer. There are also planned Medicaid improvements for all accredited providers of MRI and breast MRI by 2012, which should increase the number of women who get the scan.

“Our new imaging strategies focused on MR tend to go along the lines of the type of scans we see growing. What we have been seeing is quite a rapid growth in breast imaging. That seems to be a big area,” says Toshiba’s Clarkson. “Cardiac MR is also growing very rapidly. These tend to be areas we want to focus on and develop products to match those areas of interest.”

One who doesn’t quite believe the hype is Randy Jones, president of Resonance Innovations LLC, which manufactures and repairs MRI coils.

“I have been hearing this for 15 years,” he says. “Optimists are out there, and I have been out there from the beginning as a believer in the technology, but it is still ahead of its time in being adopted by the radiology community.”

Jones was awarded a National Institutes of Health’s research grant 10 years ago to study breast cancer findings by using MRI and developing special coils for that purpose.

“When I started my own company to make coils, we certainly jumped into the breast imaging market, and we certainly jumped too early, much like everyone else,” he says. “It has not been widespread adopted. From my personal technical opinion, I want my loved one to have an MRI versus a CT mammogram.”

Coil repair
With a reported decrease in MRI scanner sales by most OEMs in the marketplace, coil repair has caught the attention of many as a revenue source during these lean times.

“It really does go back to MRI because coils typically mirror the scanner placement and technology,” says Hersman. “When it comes to the scanners, there is a lot of talk about health care reform, reductions of scans and inaccessibility of capital funds. Some facilities are unable to make large capital purchases, therefore their MRI equipment will age and become more prone to failures, including MRI coils.”

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