MS Researchers at Japanese Hospital to Use Novel MRI Technology

Juntendo University Hospital, the first medical school in Japan to adopt Western medicine, recently signed a research agreement with SyntheticMR to employ the company’s SyMRI technology in clinical research projects at the hospital involving patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) or brain tumor metastases.  SyntheticMR is a Swedish company developing and commercializing software solutions for magnetic resonance image (MRI).

SyMRI is a software that allows fast MRI workflows, and offers efficient and reliable scanning with multiple, adjustable contrast images and quantitative information from a single 3- to 6-minute scan. The software adjusts the settings after the patient has left, meaning that the image contrast is flexible without rescanning, enabling images to be fine-tuned and contrasts that might have been missed re-created. Juntendo University Hospital believes that SyMRI might be a valuable tool in the assessment of patients with MS.

“We particularly appreciate the power of changing the contrast after the scan, which we anticipate will be useful in finding the most suitable contrast settings for each patient. We will initially use SyMRI in research projects related to MS and brain tumor metastases, with the aim of later taking it into clinical practice at the hospital,” a Juntendo Hospital researcher said in a press release.

SyMRI uses a different method than conventional MRI; it measures the properties of tissues and generates images based on those properties rather than creating a fixed contrast image. The technology offers high diagnostic quality through quantitative MRI scanning and automated tissue characterization and volume estimation. SyMRI’s single scan also takes a significantly shorter time that would be needed to acquire each contrast image separately. The software may, therefore, provide a more accurate clinical evaluation and decrease examination costs.

Currently the main focus of the SyMRI technology is the neuro field, and the software package SyMRI Research Edition has been optimized for neuro imaging applications in clinical research. Juntendo University Hospital, under the agreement, has a license to use SyMRI Research Edition in its research projects.