World's Smallest MRI Used To Scan The Brains Of Newborns

First Posted: Jan 24, 2017 03:10 AM EST

A compact MRI scanner is used by the doctors in Sheffield, England, to scan the brains of newborns particularly the premature babies. This is considered the world's smallest magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and one of the only two purpose-built neonatal MRI scanners in the world.

MRI is a medical imaging technique utilized in radiology to get an image of the anatomy and the physiological processes of the body in both health and disease. The scanners generate radio waves, magnetic fields and field gradients to come up with the pictures of inside the body. It is often used in hospitals and clinics for a staging of the disease, medical diagnosis and follow-up without exposing the body to ionizing radiation.

Oh my God. This is so small and cute. It's adorable... What baby? I am talking about the MRI. h/t @sampendu https://t.co/dfH5cZnk9S

— Remi Gau (@RemiGau) January 24, 2017

The said compact MRI is used in Royal Hallamshire Hospital. It was developed by GE Healthcare with funding by the Wellcome Trust. There were 40 babies that have already been scanned by this tiny MRI. Paul Griffiths, a professor at the University of Sheffield, stated that MRI was better at showing the structures of the brain and abnormalities more clearly.

One of the patients, Alice-Rose, who was born at 24 weeks, suffered two bleeds in the brain. Her parents, Shaun and Rachael Westbrook, said that the MRI scanner was very helpful. Shaun further said that it is a much crisper image and a lot easier to understand than the ultrasound. It is known that the ultrasound is the only one that is used to scan the brains of newborns.

Meanwhile, Rachael said that it has been a rollercoaster since Alice-Rose was born on Nov. 6, 2016 and not everything was fully formed and she still weighs only 2 lb. 13 oz. (1.28 kg). She added that the MRI was reassuring as it meant to take a better look at her brain.

The world's smallest MRI is not much bigger than a washing machine. It is also located just meters away from the neonatal intensive care unit of the Royal Hallamshire Hospital. Its price is not yet known. On the other hand, the full-sized scanners cost about several hundred thousand dollars, according to BBC News.