by
Lauren Dubinsky, Senior Reporter | October 02, 2017
From the October 2017 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
The company also introduced two dedicated coils. The dedicated knee coil has a larger inner aperture compared to previous generation coils, so that it can fit larger patients.
“All of this technology is designed to help diagnose the patient’s individual condition,” says Farischon. “As a single thing, you may not be able to point to personalized medicine, but with all of these technologies as a whole, you can clearly see that we are moving in that direction.”
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At RSNA 2016, GE unveiled its AIR Coil surface coil for the SIGNA Premier and it’s two-thirds lighter than standard coils. It’s similar to placing a blanket on the patient, which makes it easier for the technologist to maneuver it to conform to the patient’s body.
GE Healthcare's SIGNA Premier 3T MR system
"When you're a patient in the bore and the technologist is putting all this body armor on top of you to provide a good, local antenna to receive the MR signal, it can be bulky and heavy: like body armor to the patient and not fun for the technologist to move around,” says GE’s Stahre.
In addition to being lighter, the AIR Coil can also receive a stronger MR signal because it’s next to the body.
Stahre says that the AIR Coil is a major breakthrough for the industry and that more technology like this will emerge over the next couple of years.
Helium-free MR
GE is working on another industry-first technology that it also introduced at RSNA 2016. The Freelium magnet technology is designed to use 1 percent of liquid helium compared to conventional MR magnets — instead of 2,000 liters of helium, it uses about 20 liters.
With the technology, a hospital wouldn’t need to install the extensive venting that’s usually required when putting a magnet in a separate building for a newly constructed room. The Freelium magnet also doesn’t have to be refilled during transportation or even throughout its life cycle.
GE has a prototype in operation at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., for research purposes. It has not been cleared by the FDA or any other regulatory body, and is under development.
"Helium is a limited resource and it is becoming expensive,” says ECRI’s Launders. “If you can eliminate the need to refill helium, that’s useful."
New MR systems come with zero boil-off technology, which recondenses the helium with a cold head. The issue is that it uses a lot of energy, and if the power is lost, then the facility loses its helium.
Launders sees the benefits that the Freelium technology would have, but he says GE has to prove that it works before the industry can call it a breakthrough.
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