A Pakistani scientist named Dr. Khan Siddiqui has invented a portable MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scanner for the first time in the history of medical sciences and healthcare.
The conventional MRI scanner which is normally used is really huge and immovable. They would technically accommodate entire rooms which were specially built for the massive components of the scanner to fit in.
MRI is basically a scanning through radiology technique. It uses radio waves, magnetism and a computer to generate images of body structures. It facilitates doctors in discovering different diseases through scanning when other methods of testing failed to provide enough information for the disease’s confirmation.
Even though the MRI scans are very helpful tools for doctors to diagnose diseases. Still, many of them could not have them because of their really high costs and not having sufficient space for accommodating the machinery.
To get over with these entire hurdles, Dr. Khan Siddiqui, the CEO of a New York-based company named ‘Hyperfine’ has attained 510(k) clearance from FDA (Food and Drug Administration) for the first-ever portable MRI scanner. The FDA gives the 510(k) clearance to those machines that are both effective and safe for the public.
Dr. Khan Siddiqui is a Pakistani-American Radiologist, Healthcare Professional, Engineer, and Serial Entrepreneur. He is the head of a medical equipment manufacturing company, Hyperfine, located in Guilford, United States.
The first most important and noticeable feature of this MRI scanner is its size. It can be seen that the size of the MRI scanner is spectacularly less than the size of conventional MRI scanners. Apart from that, the weight of the portable MRI scanner is 635 KG. This weight is almost negligible when compared to the 4,500 KG of a typical 1.5T MRI machine. The weight gets to be even more, up to 7,500 KG, when talking about a 3T MRI scanner.
The size and weight of the portable MRI scanner are greatly reduced as compared to the typical MRI scanner. Wheel array placed at its bottom is the main thing that makes the MRI scanner portable that allowing anyone to move the machine without pushing 635 KG from place to place. Interestingly, the Lucy point-of-care MRI, as the portable device is named, will consume 35 times less power than the normal MRI scanner.
Dr. Khan Siddiqui said “This MRI scanner has the ability to effectively scan the head, neck and other parts of the body in any clinical setting”. It means the MRI scanner can be helpful in emergency rooms, ICUs, and hospitals that do not have conventional MRI scanners at their place.
The price of the portable MRI scanner will be $50,000, once it goes into mass production. The price of this scanner is 20-times cheaper than the typical MRI machine.