Affordable Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
This project aims to enhance healthcare accessibility and sustainability through affordable MRI systems by developing comprehensive material lists, performing a cost analysis, and fostering collaboration within the open-source imaging community.
Project Details
Clients: Charité Berlin, Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC)
Tags: Frugal Innovation, Healthcare
Client Website: https://www.charite.de/en/
Let’s Work Together
The Story
MRI technology is a vital tool for accurately diagnosing complex medical conditions, offering non-invasive, detailed imaging, enabling doctors to assess and monitor critical issues like head injuries, cerebrovascular diseases, strokes, and hydrocephalus. With its ability to capture high-resolution images of soft tissues, MRI plays an essential role in early detection, timely intervention, and precise treatment planning, significantly improving patient outcomes.
Despite its benefits, MRI remains costly both to acquire and to operate. In high-resource settings, financial constraints often limit the availability of MRI machines, particularly in rural or underserved areas, where infrastructure and operational costs can be prohibitive. In low-resource settings, the challenge is even greater, as MRI technology is often inaccessible due to the high initial investment and the ongoing costs associated with maintenance, electricity, and specialized staff.
Our Project
This project on frugal MRI systems is a collaboration between Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Charité). Currently, two similar yet distinct MRI systems have been developed, both grounded in the principles of frugal innovation. Frugal innovation centers on developing simplified, efficient technology that is both affordable and accessible, addressing essential needs without excess. This approach utilizes design-thinking methodologies to formulate solutions that are both effective and sustainable, while significantly minimizing associated costs.
The project involves reviewing existing materials to establish a clear scope, format, and characteristics for the list of materials that are required to construct the scanner. Comprehensive lists of all components necessary for constructing the scanners will be compiled.
The project first involves sharing the compiled material lists with the open-source imaging community to foster knowledge exchange and collaboration. Additionally, the material lists will support MRI teams in strengthening their ability to procure essential equipment.