Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2023

Identifier

DOI: 10.1136/archdischild-2022-324200; PMCID: PMC9763199

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: A portable, low-field MRI system is now Food and Drug Administration cleared and has been shown to be safe and useful in adult intensive care unit settings. No neonatal studies have been performed. The objective is to assess our preliminary experience and assess feasibility of using the portable MRI system at the bedside in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at a quaternary children's hospital.

STUDY DESIGN: This was a single-site prospective cohort study in neonates ≥2 kg conducted between October and December 2020. All parents provided informed consent. Neonates underwent portable MRI examination in the NICU with support equipment powered on and attached to the neonate during the examination. A paediatric radiologist interpreted each portable MRI examination. The study outcome variable was percentage of portable MRI examinations completed without artefacts that would hinder diagnosis. Findings were compared between portable MRI examinations and standard of care examinations.

RESULTS: Eighteen portable, low-field MRI examinations were performed on 14 neonates with an average age of 29.7 days (range 1-122 days). 94% (17 of 18) of portable MRI examinations were acquired without significant artefact. Significant intracranial pathology was visible on portable MRI, but subtle abnormalities were missed. The examination reads were concordant in 59% (10 of 17) of cases and significant pathology was missed in 12% (2 of 17) of cases.

CONCLUSION: This single-centre series demonstrated portable MRI examinations can be performed safely with standard patient support equipment present in the NICU. These findings demonstrate that portable MRI could be used in the future to guide care in the NICU setting.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04629469.

Journal Title

Archives of disease in childhood. Fetal and neonatal edition

Volume

108

Issue

1

First Page

45

Last Page

50

MeSH Keywords

Humans; Infant, Newborn; Clinical Competence; Feasibility Studies; Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Prospective Studies

Keywords

Magnetic Resonance Imaging; intensive care units, neonatal; neurology; paediatrics

Comments

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

Publisher's Link: https://fn.bmj.com/content/108/1/45.long

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