Phase I Amount
$1,790,169
The objective of this SBIR/STTR Fast Track submission is to provide a software solution to reduce the effects of head motion during brain MRIs of infants. Because structural MRI scanning produces high-resolution images and does not expose patients to radiation, it has become an immensely valuable diagnostic tool, particularly for imaging the brain in infant samples. Approximately $20 billion worth of brain MRIs are performed each year in the US, including 500,000 infant scans. The greatest problem for MRI is its susceptibility to patient motion. About 20% of clinical brain MRIs are distorted by motion - wasting ~$4 billion/year. Currently, MRI motion is dealt with by repeating scans or anesthesia. Both approaches diminish throughput, while increasing costs, patient burden, and health risks. In infants, anesthesia causes brain injury, leading to an FDA blackbox warning against it for children under 3 years old. Thus, the standard of brain MRI care in infants is swaddling them and hoping for the best. There are no infant-compatible MRI motion monitoring systems, despite the great need. Camera-based systems encounter critical limitations when used with infants - only FIRMM's software-only approach can work easily and reliably. Two obstacles must be overcome with support from this SBIR/STTR award to develop FIRMM-infant for research and clinical use. 1) Infant-compatible versions of motion-sensing/correcting sequences must be generated (T1w, T2w). 2) FIRMM-infant usability and its ability to improve MRI quality must be demonstrated. The proposed research focuses on delivering proof-of-concept for FIRMM-infant (Phase I) and building and validating a clinical-ready version of FIRMM-infant across vendors (Phase II). The FIRMM-infant device provides scan operators and physicians with real time motion information, and in combination with vNav ready motion sensing sequences will MR scans safer, faster, and less expensive for infant imaging.
Public Health Relevance Statement: Project Narrative Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has unrivaled clinical utility, is non-invasive, and provides extremely high spatial resolution; however, MRIs have one severe limitation: patient motion during an MRI scan diminishes the quality of the resulting images. Importantly, there are no infant-compatible MRI motion monitoring systems, despite the great need. The goal of this application is to develop an accurate and non-invasive software-based solution for monitoring infant motion during brain MRIs.
Project Terms: Anesthesia procedures; Anesthesia; Award; Brain; Brain Nervous System; Encephalon; Child; 0-11 years old; Child Youth; Children (0-21); children; childrens'; youngster; Data Display; Face; faces; facial; Goals; Head; Health; Human; Modern Man; Infant; Kinetics; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; MR Imaging; MR Tomography; MRI; Medical Imaging, Magnetic Resonance / Nuclear Magnetic Resonance; NMR Imaging; NMR Tomography; Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Zeugmatography; Motion; Movement; body movement; Patients; Physicians; Research; Risk; Running; Computer software; Software; Technology; Temperature; Testing; Time; Vendor; Work; Caring; base; improved; brain visualization; Brain imaging; Clinical; Phase; Medical; Ensure; Susceptibility; Predisposition; wasting; Funding; Acquired brain injury; brain damage; brain-injured; Brain Injuries; tool; Diagnostic; Functional MRI; fMRI; Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Entropy; Investigation; Scanning; Clinic; System; Best Practice Analysis; Benchmarking; Robin; Robin bird; Speed; Structure; Devices; Radiation; Sampling; Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scan; MRI Scans; Institution; Address; Data; randomisation; randomization; randomly assigned; Randomized; Resolution; SBIR; Small Business Innovation Research; Small Business Innovation Research Grant; STTR; Small Business Technology Transfer Research; Update; Monitor; Process; imaging; Image; neonate; cost; reconstruction; designing; design; infant measurement; infant monitoring; aged; 2 years of age; age 2 years; aged 2 years; aged two years; two year old; two years of age; 2 year old; 3 years of age; age 3 years; three year old; three years of age; 3 year old; data acquisition; usability; high resolution imaging; fMRI scan; functional magnetic resonance imaging scan; functional MRI scan; DICOM; Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine; structured data
