Pilot Study: Safety of a Customized MRI System for Neonatal Imaging

Pilot Study: Safety of a Customized MRI System for Neonatal Imaging

The purpose of this study is to determine the safety of a customized MRI scanner and gather preliminary data on image quality in a group of 10 medically stable infants admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC).

The current practice of transferring infants from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) to radiology departments and imaging in adult-sized magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners is associated with significant safety and image quality issues. For these reasons, the potential of MRI for diagnosing disease in neonates has yet to be fully realized. The overreaching goal of our research effort is to bring high-performance MRI into the NICU so that neonates can benefit from the same quality of diagnostic imaging as adults. To accomplish this we have converted a commercial small-bore 1.5 Tesla (T) MRI scanner designed for orthopedic use into a neonatal MRI system optimized for whole body imaging of neonates. The purpose of this initial study is to determine the safety of the customized scanner installed in the NICU at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) and gather preliminary data on image quality in a group of 10 medically stable infants admitted to the CCHMC NICU.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Any infant admitted to the NICU at CCHMC
• Medically stable as per the opinion of the attending neonatologist currently on service
• Parental consent obtained

Exclusion Criteria:

• Infants too large to fit in the customized NICU MRI system comfortably (expected to be infants >4.5 kg)
• Standard MRI exclusion criteria as set forth by the CCHMC Division of Radiology