Portable MRI Systems for Point-of-Care & Mobile Applications
Member-Initiated Symposium

ORGANIZERS: Krishna Nayak, Lawrence Wald, Andrew Webb

Wednesday, 20 June 2018

Session Number: MIS-15

Overview
The proposed symposium focuses on the frontier of MR-based system designs that are cost-effective and portable. The goal of this symposium is to challenge the status quo of an MRI as a large expensive medical device in a hospital. This fits extraordinary well with at least two of the plenaries proposed this year at the ISMRM: 1) Challenging the Assumptions of MRI, and 2) Point-of-Care Diagnostics.
We are addressing a diverse group of topics such as:
- Whether you need a high field or even a homogeneous field to do MR imaging.
- If efficient uses of signal processing, electronics and computing can produce good quality MR data.
- Can modern development in the permanent magnet and cryogen-free superconducting magnet designs allow construction of inexpensive, purpose-fit magnets?

The group of speakers are early career researchers versed in their respective fields. They represent a minority of ISMRM community who are hard at work designing, building and thinking on ways to move MRI outside of the hospital
This symposium is well-suited for the upcoming joint ISMRM - ESMRMB conference. It will nurture and expose ISMRM's growing maker community, to think about MRI differently. Most importantly it will encourage the conversation between researchers and clinicians who want to bring MRI to the patient, to get answers which they need when they need them the most.

Target Audience
Clinicians interested in mobile and point of care MRI applications and scientists interested in developing and advancing portable MR technology.

Educational Objectives
As a result of attending this course, participants should be able to:
- Describe cryogen-free HTS and Permanent Magnet Design;
- Describe imaging using non-homogenous fields;
- Describe portable MRI technology; and
- Identify low-field applications.