SBIR-STTR Award

This SBIR project aims to develop an MRI-compatible 12-lead ECG system. Such a system will provide greatly improved physiological monitoring inside the MRI, which is important for imaging severely ill patients (stroke, spine, patients with ischemic histories), and is also key to future MRI-guided interventions and surgeries. Current MRI-compatible ECG monitoring is limited to 4-closely spaced electrodes, and is intended mainly for outpatient imaging. In addition, gradient-induction (VGrad) and magneto-hydro-dynamic (VMHD) artifacts distort the waveform, not allowing for reliable acute-ischemia detection. The 12-lead system will remove these artifacts and provide clean ECG (ECGreal) traces, similar to those measured outside MRI. Our Specific Aims are: Aim #1: MR compatible 12-lead ECG acquisition and transmission We will develop a 3 Tesla MR-compatible ECG acquisition system using 10 MRI-compatible electrodes positioned at standard torso locations, with coaxial-cable transmission lines carrying ECG signals from the electrodes to the MRI

Public Health Relevance:
This study is relevant due to difficulties in recording accurate ECGs during MRI scanning of severely ill and critical care patients, such as trauma or ischemic patients, which leads to their exclusion from imaging. However, MRI is an excellent modality to detect acute stroke1, acute spinal injury2, and post- infarction damage3, so improved ECG would lead to improved care. Moreover, 12-lead ECG is the standard-of-care for detecting acute ischemia4, but ischemia indicators frequently are masked by MRI

Thesaurus Terms:
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