FUJIFILM Healthcare Americas Corporation unveiled Sunday its Velocity MR system, a 1.2T high-field open scanner, at the 2021 RSNA annual conference at McCormick Place in Chicago.

Made with a unique open gantry design, the solution is designed to provide space and make claustrophobic, bariatric, geriatric and pediatric patients feel at ease, as well as provide easy access for real-time interventional procedures.

“I don’t have the same worry that I have with a 1.5T where people are rejecting getting scanned, or they won’t even come. They won’t come for the scan if you don’t have an open MR,” Shawn Etheridge, director of CT and MRI marketing for FUJIFILM Healthcare Americas Corporation, told HCB News.
It also comes with integrated radiofrequency coils and reconstruction technologies to streamline workflow and improve the patient experience, including the first of its kind, anatomy-comfortable Synergy Flex coil for abdominal and orthopedic imaging on an open, vertical-field MR scanner. It also has blanket-type coils for abdominal imaging and scanning of the knees and hips. Coils do not need to be swapped out and can be left on the table in between patients.

Also included is IP-RAPID iterative reconstruction technology, which accelerates 2D scans substantially and enables exams to be completed in 25%, 35% or 40% of the length of time they usually take. The aim is to compete against the 1.5T in terms of throughput, according to Etheridge. In addition, the Velocity has an extra-wide patient table for patients of up to 660 lbs and is the only scanner to offer in-gantry left and right movement with multiple coil connectors. This makes positioning patients easier.

The symmetrical design of the system enables it to be rotated with respect to the table. This creates an open, lateral setting, and makes the system ideal for general imaging and orthopedic imaging, due to its being able to position patients comfortably and putting their anatomy at the center of the magnet. Doing so helps produce strong image quality, with the patient able to lie comfortably and not have to readjust themselves to get a good scan, as they might on a conventional bore system.

“We have hospitals adopting it as their sole MR system. The most typical provider situation we see is an outpatient imaging center, either as their stand-alone system or sometimes as a complement to a 3T system, or maybe a complement to a 1.5T,” said Etheridge.

The Velocity is now available in the U.S. for sale with all its specified features.

MRI Homepage