AMSTERDAM, April 22, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG; AEX: PHIA) today announced that it will feature the company's latest Magnetic Resonance (MR) solutions and neurology-focused clinical applications at the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine's (ISMRM) 25th annual meeting and exhibition in Hawaii. As a part of its newest suite of magnetic resonance (MR)-based software applications dedicated to neurology, Philips will be showcasing MultiBand SENSE, which was developed in collaboration with several partners, including the Larner College of Medicine at the University of Vermont.

At ISMRM, Philips will demonstrate innovations designed to extend MR's valuable role across the health continuum, touching more lives with the technology that sheds light on intricate anatomical structures and helps clinicians to make confident diagnostic decisions. Through continued collaboration with its customers, Philips is designing imaging and visualization technologies to support patient-personalized, efficient care, with the aim to make MR solutions more accessible [1] and definitive [2].

Among Philips' newest neurology software applications is MultiBand SENSE, a clinical application that allows simultaneous acquisition of multiple slices in the brain in fMRI and diffusion imaging. This capability enables accelerated neuro-functional and diffusion scans at high speed and high resolution with virtually no impact on SNR [3], providing radiologists with the option to increase coverage or resolution without increasing scan time. MultiBand SENSE leverages Philips' unique dStream digital platform on the Ingenia 3T family of MRI systems.
Philips' MultiBand SENSE, developed in collaboration with the University of Vermont among other partners, has played a vital role in the university's participation in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study [4], the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the United States. Co-led by Professor of Psychiatry Hugh Garavan, PhD, and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry Alexandra Potter, PhD, the UVM site is one of 21 sites participating in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded study, which aims to track the biological and behavioral development of approximately 11,500 children through adolescence into young adulthood.

Richard Watts, PhD, Associate Professor of Radiology and an MRI physicist at the University of Vermont, worked with Philips in development of MultiBand SENSE and has used the application in the protocols of their research to increase speed. "Specific advanced neuroimaging protocols had to be met for a site to be eligible for this large-scale study, and Philips worked with us to make that possible," said Watts. "With Philips' MultiBand SENSE, we are imaging six times faster, with the possibility to go up to eight, while still maintaining quality imaging results, which is key to meeting the high specifications of the study."

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