This spring, the Michigan State University Veterinary Medical Center began using a state-of-the-art MRI system that will allow the Hospital to take clearer-than-ever images of patients, providing a superior tool for veterinarians to diagnose medical issues accurately and to determine targeted treatment plans.
The system’s magnet has twice the field strength—going from 1.5T to 3T—of the Hospital’s previous MRI. (T, short for “Tesla,” is the unit that defines a magnet’s field strength.) The system also will use artificial intelligence and deep learning to refine both the scanning process and image quality. The machine is even capable of multi-nucleic imaging, a scanning innovation currently in its earliest stages.
“The Philips MR 7700 is the first that Philips will have installed in a veterinary setting,” says Rebecca Linton, who manages the Hospital’s Radiology Service. “This puts us at the forefront of clinical imaging. MRI technology is constantly developing and advancing—with the new system’s features, we’ll be positioned to perform any type of imaging study that may be desired over the next 20 years.”
For more about the MRI's capabilities, see the Hospital's initial announcement of the installation.
Below: A sample scan of a canine patient's brain using the new 3T MRI system. Note: Video quality has been compressed for web.
Below: A sample of the same canine patient's brain, from a different angle.
Below: A sample scan of an equine patient's brain.