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MR Scanners

Siemens Healthineers Targets MRI at Shape 2023

Siemens Healthineers kicked-off RSNA announcements season with its Shape 23 event, highlighted by a pair of forthcoming MRIs that should serve as the cornerstones of its high-end lineup for years to come.

Magnetom Cima.X – Siemens reinforced its already-solid 3T MR lineup with its new Magnetom Cima.X, calling it the company’s “strongest 3T MRI system ever.”

The Magnetom Cima.X owes that “strongest 3T” title to its new Gemini Gradients, which achieve 200 mT/m amplitude and 200 T/m/s slew rate performance. That’s a 2.5x increase from Siemens’ previous 3T MRIs and it’s higher than any other clinically released whole-body MRI. 

The Magnetom Cima.X also features Siemens Healthineers’ …

• Benchmark 3T magnet
• Deep Resolve AI image reconstruction for up to 50% faster scans
• Open Recon for integrating custom reconstruction and post-processing solutions
• BioMatrix Technology to automatically adjust exams based on patient biovariability
• myExam Companion for streamlining technologist workflows

Magnetom Terra.X – Siemens’ new Magnetom Terra.X 7T MR is the long-awaited successor to the Magnetom Terra (the first FDA-cleared 7T MR), bringing improved clinical and research performance. The Magnetom Terra.X leverages Siemens’ new Ultra IQ Technology to achieve even greater image quality and visualization of small structures, Deep Resolve for image reconstruction-based speed and image enhancements, and Open Recon to support custom reconstructions.

The Takeaway

Although both MRIs are still under development, their starring role in Siemens Healthineers’ big RSNA event underscores their significance to Siemens’ high-end MRI lineup, and gives a glimpse of features to expect in future 1.5T and 3T MR launches. That’s especially notable given that Siemens’ last two RSNA announcements focused on its new low-field 0.55T MRIs, and it hasn’t launched any high-field systems in over three years.

Making AI Evaluations More Effective

If you’re in the business of using or providing AI, there’s a good chance you spend a lot of time managing AI evaluations. But are your evaluations as efficient or effective as they could be? Check out this Imaging Wire Show with Riverain Technologies CEO, Steve Worrell, detailing the best practices for mitigating AI adoption risks, today and into the future.

The Multitenant Cloud Advantage

Check out this Change Healthcare video explaining the difference between single-tenant and multitenant cloud architecture, and how multitenant solutions can improve your efficiency and flexibility.

The Wire

• Riverain and the VA’s Precision Alliance: The US Veterans Health Administration will leverage Riverain Technologies’ ClearRead CT lung nodule detection software in the VA Lung Precision Oncology Program (22 hub and 87 spoke locations). The announcement highlighted ClearRead CT’s Clear Visual Intelligence, which uses vessel suppression to reduce missed nodules and cut nodule search time during chest CT interpretations (29% & 26% reductions). This nationwide alliance expands upon Riverain ClearRead CT’s adoption at several Veterans Integrated Service Networks.

• Nuance & NVIDIA’s AI Alliance: Nuance Communications and NVIDIA announced a new partnership that combines the Nuance Precision Imaging Network and NVIDIA’s MONAI AI framework to accelerate imaging AI validation, deployment, and evaluation. Using MONAI’s AI training and integration capabilities and the Nuance Precision Imaging Network’s ability to integrate AI tools and insights within radiology workflows (including reporting and sharing), Mass General Brigham launched a breast density AI model that reduced patient waiting times for results from several days to 15 minutes.

• MRI After PSA: Prostate cancer screening workflows that perform MRIs after high PSA tests (and before biopsy) are cost-effective and reduce unnecessary biopsies. Swedish researchers assessed three different prostate cancer screening strategies among 1.5k simulated men (no screening, PSA + biopsy every 4yrs, MRI + biopsies after PSA), finding that MRI-based screening after PSA reduced lifetime biopsies and overdiagnosis by 50% each, and would be more cost-effective than the current standard of performing biopsy after PSA tests (ICER: $53k vs. $69k).

• Agamon’s Follow-Up Funding: Radiology patient workflow startup Agamon Health completed a $5M funding round to further develop and commercialize its imaging follow-up platform, and support the development of future solutions. Agamon’s Automated Follow-Up Platform uses AI and NLP to analyze radiology reports, then translates them into actions that help close the loop on incidental findings and follow-up requests.

• Arterys & Premier’s Special Terms: Arterys and Premier are teaming up to make Arterys’ imaging AI platform and solutions available to Premier members at special pre-negotiated rates. The Premier agreement expands Arterys’ value and reach across the second largest GPO in the US.

• NPPs Drive More ED Imaging: Nonphysician practitioners (NPPs) could be driving emergency imaging volume growth. A JAMA study of 16.9M ED visits found that the presence of NPPs in the ED was linked to 5.3% more imaging exams per visit, a 3.4% higher likelihood of imaging being ordered during a visit, and 2.2% more imaging studies ordered per visit that included imaging. This trend is compounded by NPPs’ growing involvement in overall ED visits (6.1% in 2005 to 16.6% in 2020).

• Questioning BACs and CAD: Despite growing buzz about using breast arterial calcifications to detect coronary artery disease, an EJR study found no link between BACs and CAD severity. Among 183 postmenopausal women (39 w/ BAC) who underwent invasive coronary angiography, there was no difference in the number of affected vessels in women with or without BACs (p = 0.683). After adjusting for variables (age, time since menopause, smoking), BACs still weren’t linked to having more affected vessels (odds ratio: 1.07).

• CXR AI CAD Predictions: A new study out of Italy suggests that chest X-ray AI analysis could help identify chest pain patients who are likely to have coronary artery disease. After training and testing using CXRs from 7.7k patients who also underwent coronary angiography (4.1k w/ severe CAD), the CXR AI model predicted CAD with a 0.73 AUC, outperforming Diamond Forrester scores (0.70). The CXR algorithm performed even better when patients’ angina status or Diamond Forrester scores were included in its analysis (AUCs: 0.77 & 0.76).

• Neuroimaging Murder Defense: Neuroimaging made mainstream news last week, when a convicted murderer’s brain scans became the focus of her legal team’s sentencing plea. A neuropsychologist testified that MRI, PET/CT, and EEG exams showed that the defendant’s brain is “broken” and likely to cause impulsiveness, but the Texas jury still sentenced the woman to death.  

• MRI AI Prostate Volume Assessments: New research out of Sweden highlighted Siemens’ AI-Rad Companion Prostate MR’s ability to assess prostate volume (PV) “at least as good” as trained radiologists using PI-RADS. The multi-center, multi-scanner, and multi-protocol study used the AI solution to analyze MRIs from 124 patients who underwent a prostatectomy, performing eight different PV measurements. The AI-produced PV measurements achieved better agreements with expert measurements and PV specimen weights compared to two radiologists using the PI-RADS-based ellipsoid formula.

• Cleerly’s High-Risk Plaque Metric: Cleerly showcased a number of AHA 2022 abstracts, including one in which the authors identified a novel metric to better define high-risk plaques in coronary CTAs. The high-risk metric, dubbed HRP morphology, states that the shape of low-density non-calcified coronary plaque must be round or bean shaped and must be surrounded by non-calcified plaque for at least 270 degrees circumferentially. The HRP morphology was associated with acute coronary syndrome, and substantially improved risk stratification.

• RapidAI’s New ICH Clearance: RapidAI announced the FDA clearance of a new version of its Rapid ICH solution, which now detects intracranial hemorrhage in non-contrast CTs with 97% sensitivity and 100% specificity. RapidAI claims that these improvements, along with its ability to detect suspected ICH as small as 0.4ml, make it the “best performing intracranial hemorrhage triage and notification product on the market.”

Ready for In-Office MR?

Ready for the patient, clinical, and business benefits of in-office MRI exams? See why Siemens Healthineers’ MAGNETOM Free.Max’s 80cm bore, compact footprint, and cryogen-free design allows orthopedic practices to adopt a complete, in-office MRI solution.

How Thomas Jefferson Leveraged CARPL.ai

See how Thomas Jefferson University relied on CARPL.ai to accelerate its AI validation and clinical adoption in this presentation by informatics and AI leader, Dr. Paras Lakhani.

The Resource Wire

• The Intelerad team will be at RSNA 2022 (booth #6107) to share how the new Intelerad Cloud provides everything you need to shape your enterprise imaging strategy. 

• We may be entering a third wave of imaging AI’s rapid evolution, that brings a shift from narrow point solutions to comprehensive multi-finding AI systems. Join this discussion with annalise.ai Chief Medical Officer, Rick Abramson, MD, exploring how this transition could take place, how radiologist and VC perspectives on AI are changing, and how AI might continue to evolve in the future.

• If you’re ready to get more from your interventional suite, tune in to this Imaging Wire Show featuring Canon Medical Systems’ vascular leader, Bill Newsom, exploring the meaningful innovation that went into Canon’s 4D CT technology.

• See how Enlitic’s Curie|ENDEX application transforms imaging data to a consistent, clinically relevant standard nomenclature, so radiology and AI workflows work the way they’re supposed to.

• When this 66 year-old woman was referred for pain and functional impotence of the wrist, her initial X-ray images were normal. However, Arterys’ Chest I MSK AI detected a fracture on the dorsal side of her cortical bone, alerting the radiologist and confirming her injury.

• Check out our Cardiac Wire publication’s latest Q&A with Us2.ai president and co-founder, Yoran Hummel, discussing how his career as a sonographer led him to echo AI, and how Us2.ai’s upcoming automated strain analysis feature brings the company even closer to democratizing echo.

• We may be on the verge of the next revolution in how cancer is detected, diagnosed, and treated and this editorial by GE Healthcare Imaging leader, Jan Makela, details how GE and its partners are using AI and imaging data to drive this revolution.

• See how East Texas Medical Center reduced its abdominal CT contrast volumes by 30% after adopting Bayer Radiology’s contrast dose management software.

• Check out this Imaging Wire Show featuring Novarad founder and CEO, Wendell Gibby, MD, exploring Novarad’s technological evolution and how its recent augmented reality expansion is bringing medical imaging into completely new clinical settings.

• An NIH paper detailing how portable MRI can aid in stroke assessments and democratize imaging access sparked this spirited conversation with Hyperfine’s leadership, providing two insiders’ perspectives on how portable MRI can achieve these improvements – and more.

• Check out this Imaging Wire Show with United Imaging’s Jeffrey Bundy and Mike Coulter, who detail their unique approach to medical imaging innovations. If you’re trying to figure out a simpler and more scalable way to run your imaging organization, this interview is a great way to start.

• Working out your AI business case? Check out this helpful Blackford Analysis post detailing how to create your AI Value Matrix based on your organizational objectives and value indicators.