%0 Journal Article
%A von Danwitz, Niklas M
%A Lehnen, Nils C
%A Meißner, Julius N
%A Samani, Omid Shirvani
%A Asperger, Hannah
%A Thielscher, Christian
%A Ebrahimi, Taraneh
%A Layer, Julia
%A Nitsch, Louisa
%A Dorn, Franziska
%A Radbruch, Alexander
%A Bode, Felix J
%A Weller, Johannes M
%A Groteklaes, Anne
%A Petzold, Gabor C
%A Sabir, Hemmen
%A Stösser, Sebastian
%T Portable ultra-low-field MRI in acute stroke care: A pilot study.
%J European stroke journal
%V 10
%N 4
%@ 2396-9873
%C London
%I Sage Publishing
%M DZNE-2025-01347
%P 1430 - 1437
%D 2025
%X Neuroimaging is a prerequisite for treatment of stroke patients, but it is not available all over the globe. Portable ultra-low field (pULF) MRI has the potential to improve access to neuroimaging and thus stroke care worldwide. In a pilot study, we were the first to utilise pULF-MRI in a European tertiary stroke centre and to evaluate its diagnostic value compared to high-field (HF) MRI.Consecutive patients admitted for suspected ischaemic stroke underwent pULF-MRI using the 0.064 Tesla Swoop® portable MR imaging system in addition to standard imaging. HF-MRI and pULF-MRI scans were blindly assessed to compare the diagnostic accuracy and imaging-based therapeutic decisions based on pULF-MRI to HF-MRI.Seventeen patients underwent pULF-MRI, 12 of whom had ischaemic lesions on HF-MRI. Ischaemic lesions were detected on pULF-MRI in 8/12 cases. The four infarcts not identified on pULF-MRI were all smaller than 6 mm in diameter. In all cases, a virtual treatment decision based on pULF-MRI by a blinded team matched the actual clinical decisions.This single-centre study demonstrates that pULF-MRI is a promising tool in acute stroke care, providing reliable imaging for treatment decision and follow-up monitoring. pULF-MRI may support acute stroke care if HF-MRI is unavailable and may be particularly helpful in resource-limited settings. Limitations of pULF-MRI include long acquisition times and the lack of vessel imaging and haemorrhage-sensitive sequences.
%K Humans
%K Pilot Projects
%K Male
%K Female
%K Aged
%K Magnetic Resonance Imaging: methods
%K Magnetic Resonance Imaging: instrumentation
%K Middle Aged
%K Aged, 80 and over
%K Stroke: diagnostic imaging
%K Ischemic Stroke: diagnostic imaging
%K Neuroimaging: methods
%K Neuroimaging: instrumentation
%K Stroke (Other)
%K acute care (Other)
%K emergency department (Other)
%K health equality (Other)
%K point of care imaging (Other)
%K portable ultra-low-field MRI (Other)
%F PUB:(DE-HGF)16
%9 Journal Article
%$ pmid:40515383
%2 pmc:PMC12170540
%R 10.1177/23969873251344761
%U https://pub.dzne.de/record/282587