Mayo Clinic and Philips are collaborating to investigate ways artificial intelligence can make cardiac MRI scans faster.
Mayo Clinic will combine its proprietary AI technology with Philips’ proprietary deep learning-based AI technology that is currently in development. Philips' AI will optimize the workflow and post-processing of cardiac MRI scans and Mayo Clinic's AI models will improve image acquisition and reconstruction speed. Reconstruction is the process of converting the raw data collected during the MRI scan into high-quality images that clinicians can use for diagnosis.
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CT scans are often the go-to test physicians use to obtain imaging of patients with heart issues, but MRI is also used, especially for assessing congenital heart disease or conditions affecting the heart muscle. However, due to the high cost of MRI, access to the technology is often limited, creating a need for faster, more efficient MRI techniques.
A cardiac MRI exam can take 60 to 90 minutes and a standard MRI scanner can handle between 15 to 80 patients per day, said Sathish Kumar, vice president and head of global research and development for MRI at Philips.
The company is looking to drastically improve those numbers through the research collaboration, he said.
In addition to reducing scan times, AI might also allow less experienced radiographers to perform complex cardiac MRI exams, according to Philips. While the demand for cardiac MRI in North America has grown, the number of trainees specializing in it hasn’t kept pace, according to a 2023 study conducted by researchers from Loma Linda University Health, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and other academic medical centers.
Mayo Clinic already has experience leveraging AI to diagnose patients with heart problems. The health system applied AI techniques to a new screening tool for patients with left ventricular dysfunction and it identified people at risk of the condition 93% of the time.
The teams at Mayo Clinic and Philips also will evaluate the company’s lower-field-strength MRI solutions, which are designed for patients with implants sensitive to high magnetic fields such as metallic orthopedic and cardiac implants. Those patients are often denied conventional MRI scans because of safety concerns.
