From the September 2018 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Children are often sedated for MR exams due to the length of time they need to stay absolutely still to capture the diagnostic image. Due to the unnatural space and movement restrictions upon patients during MR exams, even a significant portion of adult patients require some kind of sedation in order to go through with the exam.
Given the health implications of sedation and negative emotional stress, InkSpace makes the case that anything that reduces the length of exams and increases comfort directly results in more successful outcomes for patients, their families, and diagnosticians alike. And it helps improve the bottom line of MR units too.
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According to research published in the Journal of the American College of Radiology last year, exam delays or failures caused by undesired patient motion and claustrophobia affect, on average, 10 to 15 percent of all MR exams, and the MR operators must bear most of the associated costs. With more than 40 million exams performed in 2016, it can be estimated that lost revenue due to patient motion amounts to more than $4 billion per year in the United States alone.
Currently, InkSpace Imaging has a 12-channel prototype and they are developing a 24-channel prototype for body imaging of 3-5 year-old patients. They are working toward getting their first FDA-approved device to market within the next two years.
There have been regular attempts by the industry to improve upon the conventional coils and address their limitations. Certain coils from the latest generation are much lighter and flexible, such as the GE AIR technology coil, or ScanMed Blanket coils. But printing seems to offer additional benefits, such as patient tailored coils and reduced production costs. Overall, the use of novel production processes could transform the way the industry thinks about coils, and InkSpace aims to do just that, one dinosaur-print blanket at a time.
About the author: Liberty Franks is a Bay Area communication and marketing consultant. She works with dynamic technical startups to tell the stories of their innovations.Back to HCB News
