Authored by: Humza Rana
Portable medical imaging systems are revolutionizing healthcare service, providing sophisticated diagnostic tools right to patients’ bedside.
In recent years, the need for mobile medical imaging systems has surged remarkably due to their capacity to enhance patient results and their exceptional portability. The pandemic further accelerated the demand for innovative mobile medical imaging solutions as it curtailed the transmission of infection among healthy individuals and healthcare personnel by minimizing congestion in medical imaging facilities.
Annually, over four billion medical imaging procedures are conducted worldwide, with the scanning volumes anticipated to rise even more due to the escalating complexity of diseases. The adoption of cutting-edge mobile medical imaging systems is projected to expand significantly as healthcare providers seek portable and user-friendly devices to enhance patient outcomes.
Moreover, since these devices negate the requirement for transporting critically ill patients within or between hospitals, they avert transportation-related complications such as ventilator desynchronization and the loss of intravenous access, among other issues. In addition, eliminating transport facilitates recovery for both patients undergoing imaging and those who aren’t.
Technological progress has transformed mobile medical imaging systems—such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), X-ray, ultrasound, and computed tomography (CT) scanners—making them more compact and portable. This adaptability allows them to be seamlessly transferred among clinical and non-clinical environments, including intensive care units (ICUs), emergency departments, surgical rooms, physician offices, road and air ambulances, and patients’ homes. Their mobility has the potential to mitigate healthcare delivery disparities, particularly for underserved groups in remote and rural locales.
These trailblazing mobile medical imaging technologies provide remarkable features, including swift, precise, efficient, and effective disease diagnosis, alongside the capability to enhance patients’ health outcomes. The state-of-the-art mobile medical imaging systems equipped with advanced image processing and noise reduction technologies deliver clinicians crisp, high-quality images of patients. Furthermore, mobile medical imaging technologies facilitate cost efficiency by eliminating the need for repeated patient transfers for imaging procedures and unnecessary hospital admissions.
Championing Health Equity Through Mobile Medical Imaging Solutions
The implementation of mobile medical imaging solutions can foster a shift towards a more agile and patient-focused healthcare delivery framework, improving the quality of care. By dismantling infrastructural and geographical obstacles to healthcare access, these solutions act as essential instruments in leveling the playing field for critical diagnostic services for patients. Consequently, mobile medical imaging solutions have the potential to fundamentally transform healthcare into a universal entitlement rather than a luxury.
The influence of innovative mobile medical imaging advancements
MRI: Cutting-edge portable MRI devices have transformed the conventional understanding of MRI machines, which were generally limited to healthcare facilities, needed extensive installation and upkeep costs, and incurred lengthy patient wait periods. Portable MRI devices facilitate point-of-care (POC) clinical decisions for intricate cases like brain injuries by generating clear and intricate brain images right at the patient’s bedside. They are crucial in urgent brain-related emergencies such as strokes.
For example, Hyperfine has introduced the portable MRI system, the Swoop system, which integrates ultra-low-field magnetic resonance, radio frequencies, and artificial intelligence (AI) to allow MRI procedures at POC, enhancing access to neuroimaging for severely ill patients. It can be operated via an Apple iPad Pro mobile device and requires only a few minutes for setup. The portable MRI system serves as an optimal solution for brain imaging in ICUs, pediatric units, and various healthcare environments. The Swoop system is applicable for a range of conditions, including stroke, ventriculomegaly, and intracranial mass effects.
X-Ray: Mobile X-ray machines are light, compact, battery-operated, and collapsible devices that permit POC medical imaging along with wireless transmission and storage of medical images. Sophisticated image processing technologies and noise reduction mechanisms in these machines aid in minimizing the scattering and attenuation of X-ray signals, yielding clear radiographic images with high diagnostic significance for healthcare professionals.
Based on the World Health Organization (WHO), portable X-ray devices paired with AI-driven computer-aided detection (CAD) software can considerably boost diagnostic ability, effectiveness, efficiency, and benefits. The WHO’s endorsement can significantly influence the enhancement of health screening processes for diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) in nations like the UAE, which has the highest percentage of international migrants, representing 87.9 percent of the population, most of whom come from areas with a high TB burden.
The extensive clinical uses of portable X-ray systems involve examinations for pneumonia, lung cancer, bone fractures, heart ailments, kidney stones, infections, and pediatric imaging. Groundbreaking portable X-ray systems employ high-frequency X-rays for accurate X-ray delivery and outstanding image quality. For instance, Prognosis Medical Systems (India) has created the Pored Atlas Ultraportable X-ray system, a lightweight and mobile solution featuring a microprocessor-controlled high-frequency X-ray generator that guarantees precise X-ray delivery and produces high-quality imagery.
Importantly, the Middle East is undergoing rapid advancement as international players in medical imaging acknowledge its significance and the demand for mobile medical imaging technologies. For instance, US-based United Imaging established a three-year collaboration with Al Mana Group (Saudi Arabia) in February 2024, where AI Mana Hospital will be promoted as a training hub and strategic site for digital mobile X-rays in Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East region.
Ultrasound: Mobile ultrasound devices encompass wearable, wireless or wired handheld and cart-mounted ultrasound scanners featuring adaptable, compact ultrasound arrays alongside small linear and curved transducers. These scanners employ AI algorithms to identify various structures within the human torso and autonomously modify parameters such as frequency and depth of penetration to enhance image quality.
Such devices are capable of performing imaging of both superficial and deep anatomy right at the bedside, while also accelerating data processing, enabling patient images to reveal finer details crucial for diagnosing conditions like decompensated heart failure, coronary artery disease, congenital fetal abnormalities, and pleural and pulmonary disorders. Thanks to the tele ultrasound functionality integrated into the scanners, healthcare professionals can exchange real-time images, videos, and audio with other clinicians to facilitate remote consultations aimed at optimizing patient care.
For instance, GE Healthcare presented its Vscan Air SL handheld ultrasound scanner at Arab Health 2024, designed to deliver both shallow and deep, crystal-clear imaging with remote feedback mechanisms to support prompt and precise cardiac and vascular evaluations in patients.
To bolster the adoption of mobile ultrasound scanners in their practices, healthcare providers throughout the Middle East are concentrating on enhancing their medical staff’s skills through advanced technologies. For example, in May 2022, Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, one of the largest hospitals in the UAE, inaugurated a point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) academy intended to equip medical staff with AI-guided POCUS devices to refine the physical examination of patients at their bedside. Moreover, in February 2024, SEHA Virtual Hospital, one of the world’s premier virtual hospitals located in Saudi Arabia, conducted a groundbreaking tele operated ultrasound scan using Wohler’s Son system to showcase the telemedicine platform’s capability to empower healthcare practitioners to deliver timely and precise patient care regardless of geographic barriers.
CT: Mobile CT scanners possess the ability to conduct comprehensive full-body scans or target specific body regions, including the head, producing high-quality cross-sectional visuals (slices) of internal organs. This technology aids in identifying conditions such as stroke, pneumonia, bronchitis, brain injuries, and skull fractures. Mobile CT scanners minimize noise and metallic artifacts, providing improved contrast and sharpness in patient imagery.
These devices are increasingly incorporating photon counting detectors (PCD) that offer ultra-high-resolution capabilities, yielding scans with unmatched levels of clarity and detail, thereby enhancing disease diagnosis. The inclusion of an extra layer of laminated lead within the shields of mobile CT scanners reduces radiation scattering, granting operators enhanced protection and mitigating the long-term adverse effects of radiation exposure on healthcare personnel.
For instance, Neurological has introduced the Omni Tom Elite PCD scanner, which offers high-grade, non-contrast CT imaging. It promotes superior differentiation of grey and white matter and eradicates artifacts such as streaking, beam hardening, and calcium blooming, even in complex patient scenarios.
The Middle East is grappling with a significant prevalence of cerebrovascular ailments, particularly strokes, with countries like Saudi Arabia reporting a high age-standardized prevalence of stroke at 1967.7 cases per 100,000 individuals. In response to this challenge, SEHA Virtual Hospital is providing virtual stroke care services through the deployment of CT scans to enhance diagnostic accuracy for ailments, which, in turn, expedites medical interventions aimed at boosting patient health outcomes.
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