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Characterization of Portable Ultra-Low Field MRI Scanners for Multi-Center Structural Neuroimaging

Ljungberg, Emil LU orcid ; Padormo, Francesco ; Poorman, Megan ; Clemensson, Petter LU ; Bourke, Niall ; Evans, John C. ; Gholam, James ; Vavasour, Irene ; Kollind, Shannon H. and Lafayette, Samson L. , et al. (2025) In Human Brain Mapping 46(8).
Abstract

The lower infrastructure requirements of portable ultra-low field MRI (ULF-MRI) systems have enabled their use in diverse settings such as intensive care units and remote medical facilities. The UNITY Project is an international neuroimaging network harnessing this technology, deploying portable ULF-MRI systems globally to expand access to MRI for studies into brain development. Given the wide range of environments where ULF-MRI systems may operate, there are external factors that might influence image quality. This work aims to introduce the quality control (QC) framework used by the UNITY Project to investigate how robust the systems are and how QC metrics compare between sites and over time. We present a QC framework using a... (More)

The lower infrastructure requirements of portable ultra-low field MRI (ULF-MRI) systems have enabled their use in diverse settings such as intensive care units and remote medical facilities. The UNITY Project is an international neuroimaging network harnessing this technology, deploying portable ULF-MRI systems globally to expand access to MRI for studies into brain development. Given the wide range of environments where ULF-MRI systems may operate, there are external factors that might influence image quality. This work aims to introduce the quality control (QC) framework used by the UNITY Project to investigate how robust the systems are and how QC metrics compare between sites and over time. We present a QC framework using a commercially available phantom, scanned with 64 mT portable MRI systems at 17 sites across 12 countries on four continents. Using automated, open-source analysis tools, we quantify signal-to-noise, image contrast, and geometric distortions. Our results demonstrated that the image quality is robust to the varying operational environment, for example, electromagnetic noise interference and temperature. The Larmor frequency was significantly correlated to room temperature, as was image noise and contrast. Image distortions were less than 2.5 mm, with high robustness over time. Similar to studies at higher field, we found that changes in pulse sequence parameters from software updates had an impact on QC metrics. This study demonstrates that portable ULF-MRI systems can be deployed in a variety of environments for multi-center neuroimaging studies and produce robust results.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
multi-center, neuroimaging, phantom, quality control, ultra-low field MRI
in
Human Brain Mapping
volume
46
issue
8
article number
e70217
publisher
Wiley-Liss Inc.
external identifiers
  • scopus:105005995424
  • pmid:40405769
ISSN
1065-9471
DOI
10.1002/hbm.70217
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
09e08067-a6dc-4ae0-b035-d7ee62f0e14e
date added to LUP
2025-08-05 11:26:55
date last changed
2025-08-19 12:41:25
@article{09e08067-a6dc-4ae0-b035-d7ee62f0e14e,
  abstract     = {{<p>The lower infrastructure requirements of portable ultra-low field MRI (ULF-MRI) systems have enabled their use in diverse settings such as intensive care units and remote medical facilities. The UNITY Project is an international neuroimaging network harnessing this technology, deploying portable ULF-MRI systems globally to expand access to MRI for studies into brain development. Given the wide range of environments where ULF-MRI systems may operate, there are external factors that might influence image quality. This work aims to introduce the quality control (QC) framework used by the UNITY Project to investigate how robust the systems are and how QC metrics compare between sites and over time. We present a QC framework using a commercially available phantom, scanned with 64 mT portable MRI systems at 17 sites across 12 countries on four continents. Using automated, open-source analysis tools, we quantify signal-to-noise, image contrast, and geometric distortions. Our results demonstrated that the image quality is robust to the varying operational environment, for example, electromagnetic noise interference and temperature. The Larmor frequency was significantly correlated to room temperature, as was image noise and contrast. Image distortions were less than 2.5 mm, with high robustness over time. Similar to studies at higher field, we found that changes in pulse sequence parameters from software updates had an impact on QC metrics. This study demonstrates that portable ULF-MRI systems can be deployed in a variety of environments for multi-center neuroimaging studies and produce robust results.</p>}},
  author       = {{Ljungberg, Emil and Padormo, Francesco and Poorman, Megan and Clemensson, Petter and Bourke, Niall and Evans, John C. and Gholam, James and Vavasour, Irene and Kollind, Shannon H. and Lafayette, Samson L. and Bennallick, Carly and Donald, Kirsten A. and Bradford, Layla E. and Lena, Beatrice and Vokhiwa, Maclean and Shama, Talat and Siew, Jasmine and Sekoli, Lydia and van Rensburg, Jeanne and Pepper, Michael S. and Khan, Amna and Madhwani, Akber and Banda, Frank A. and Mwila, Mwila L. and Cassidy, Adam R. and Moabi, Kebaiphe and Sephi, Dolly and Boakye, Richard A. and Ae-Ngibise, Kenneth A. and Asante, Kwaku P. and Hollander, William J. and Karaulanov, Todor and Williams, Steven C.R. and Deoni, Sean}},
  issn         = {{1065-9471}},
  keywords     = {{multi-center; neuroimaging; phantom; quality control; ultra-low field MRI}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{8}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Liss Inc.}},
  series       = {{Human Brain Mapping}},
  title        = {{Characterization of Portable Ultra-Low Field MRI Scanners for Multi-Center Structural Neuroimaging}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hbm.70217}},
  doi          = {{10.1002/hbm.70217}},
  volume       = {{46}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}