Do you really have to sacrifice MRI image quality for speed?

To understand the significance of the SpinTech MRI STAGE software platform, it helps to begin by asking a question: Given that MRI is an incredibly powerful diagnostic tool for neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s, dementia, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis (MS), why have radiologists and neurologists had to choose between conducting faster MRI exams and obtaining higher-quality images and biomarker data to guide treatment?

There are multiple practical, clinical and financial reasons for the trade-off, starting with supply-and-demand. Supply includes machine availability and the number of hours in a day. For example, one of the most common MRI protocols — a routine brain scan without the use contrast — typically takes at least 20 minutes. That’s just for image and data acquisition and doesn’t include machine and patient preparation time or rescans needed to correct for motion artifacts. The use of contrast or additional scanning protocols can add another 30 to 90 minutes.

Time and workflow pressures also make acquiring and interpreting quantitative data for enhanced biomarker detection a practical impossibility for most radiology departments. That data can be used for Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping (QSM), which allows for greater image clarity and differentiation of brain tissues. QSM can be invaluable for the diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Unfortunately, most imaging facilities haven’t had workflow-integrated tools to collect and interpret these types of data.

On the demand side, the use of MRI is growing as the U.S. population ages. For example, a recent study by researchers at Columbia University published in JAMA Neurology found that about more than 30 percent of Americans aged 65 and older have dementia or mild cognitive impairment. Growing demand combined with staffing shortages and decreasing reimbursements is worsening already high rates of professional burnout among radiologists and other physicians.