Innovation that matters to you

Each and every day, MR makes a difference to another person’s life, for example, by revealing intricate vessel structures in the brain, by helping a clinician map neurodegenerative disease, or by guiding a surgical procedure. However, Philips is pushing the limits of MR even further. Because we believe that, despite its impressive advancements to date, the imaging modality still has huge untapped potential – potential to touch even more lives than it does today.

But how?

With this in mind, we want to make MR more accessible¹, more definitive² and more impactful. By moving towards developing consistent imaging techniques, intuitive operation and patient-friendly systems help to reduce variability in MR, and extend the benefits to more patient groups. Technologies for image acquisition and visualization help clinicians deliver personalized, definitive answers to complex diagnostic questions. And a suite of tools and applications help increase the footprint of MR, taking it beyond diagnostics to treatment planning, treatment, interventional medicine, and follow-up care.

Getting it right first time

As I said, part of our goal is to make MR more accessible. But what exactly does that mean? We took a detailed look at the factors that can potentially stand in the way of a successful scan. And we realized that there can be a huge amount of variability in MR examinations – for example, in terms of operators and scanning sequences, not to mention the patients themselves.

In response to this, we are shaping our portfolio to address these sources of variability. Our current set of solutions supports results that are fast, consistent and reduces artifacts, helping promote certainty when making a clinical diagnosis. These solutions span imaging, workflow and patient behavior, and are designed to lower the barriers to MR.

This is our way forward - towards first time right MR imaging that is fast and consistent, user intuitive and patient friendly.

Improve fat-free imaging performance

In general, effectively reducing artifacts caused by fat, motion and distortion can lead to clearer, high-quality images. But, of course, clinicians, operators and patients do not want to compromise on speed.

Our solutions for artifact reduction help improve consistency and standardization in MR, without adding to scan times. As a result, clinicians can diagnose with more confidence and efficiency.

mDIXON XD TSE provides uniform, complete and consistent fat-free imaging, even over large field-of-views. With up to four image types in one single scan, including with or without fat suppression contrasts, in routine scan times, you can easily replace your favorite routine TSE scans with it. mDIXON XD TSE helps radiology departments enhance their imaging strategies by simplifying routine TSE procedures.

Please read this article to find out how mDIXON XD helped to get good results the first time.

A key to confidence with MR Conditional implants

Another area we’re working on is workflow. Following efficient, streamlined procedures in MR can help to reduce complexity and pave the way for reproducible, high-quality results. Our workflow solutions are use- intuitive and highly simplified. For example, ScanWise Implant user interface helps to confidently scan patients within the MR Conditional limits by providing step-by-step guidance to enter the condition values of the implant manufacturer. The MR system then automatically applies these values for the entire examination helping to simplify the scanning process for patients with implants.  

A smooth MR experience

A key source of variability in MR scans is patient behavior. Nervous or agitated patients who don’t know what to expect or who are unable to cooperate during a scan can increase the number of rescans, impacting efficiency. That is why we’re developing solutions to enhance the MR experience and encourage patients to feel at ease before, during and after their scan. Our patient in-bore experience is a set of solutions that aims to make MR scans as comfortable as possible, for example by delivering guidance, a lowered sound level, and audiovisual distraction.

Please check how patient comfort helped Herlev in their goal of first time right imaging

And how this helps them in reducing rescans as shown in their study

Experience the MR patient journey. Augmented.

Continuous evolution

Medical imaging is a huge part of today’s healthcare ecosystems – and its significance and impact is growing all the time. As society evolves and demographics change, imaging technologies must meet new demands. It’s a challenging environment to work in, but it is also highly dynamic and very rewarding. Having the opportunity to contribute to this field and potentially touch more lives with MR is very exciting indeed.

At this year’s RSNA, we’re showcasing some of our clinical applications that are working towards first time right MR imaging. We’ll also be very happy to tell you more about our vision for the future of MR. To find out what Philips is doing in the field of MR and explore our solutions, please visit the website http://www.thenextmrwave.philips.com/ or visit our booth.

1. Accessible is defined as features that are expected to contribute to speed, consistency, user or patient friendliness.
2. Definitive is defined as features that are expected to deliver alternative contrasts, functional or quantitative images.