Exploitation of a low-field scanner for physiotherapy and rheumatology

Histo-MRI is a FET-Open project finishing at the end of 2020, coordinated by CSIC and with the key participation of LUMC.

The main goal of Histo-MRI was the development of a new imaging technology capable of unprecedented spatial and temporal resolution.

As part of this highly ambitious challenge, we have developed disruptive hardware, as well as cutting-edge spatial encoding and image reconstruction methods.

One particularly successful line of research within Histo-MRI was low field MRI, where we have built a single-purpose, affordable Physiotherapy/Rheumatology scanner (the PR Gen I scanner), patented four families of MRI methods, and created a new open-source high-performance MR console (MaRCoS: Magnetic Resonance Control System).

PhysioMRI Tech S.L. is a recent spin-off from the Histo-MRI project, participated by both CSIC and LUMC members.

Ultimately, we aim to commercialize high performance, low field setups massively in sports clubs and physiotherapy and rheumatology clinics.

We will consider this project successful if by its end we have deployed the commercial plan we have devised for our PR Gen I scanner, updated with MaRCoS and advanced encoding and reconstruction methods.

We envision three stages in this process: i) in the first six months, we will duplicate the original LUMC PR – Gen I system at the PhysMRI laboratories and benchmark its performance; ii) next, we will go to a second round of investment; and iii) we will build ten systems and site them at sports clubs, physiotherapy and rheumatology clinics, where we will run these systems in real clinical environments.

Once these steps are accomplished, we will start the medical certification processes in Europe and USA, right after the end of this project.