Commercialization readiness of motion-robust brain MRI for pediatric healthcare

Project Abstract/Summary Motion related artifacts are a significant source of cost to the healthcare system. With over 12,000 MRI scanners in the U.S. and estimates that $434,000 are lost per scanner each year, motion in MRIs is costing our health care system approximately $4B yearly. Our FDA-cleared software solution Framewise Integrated Real- Time MRI Monitoring (FIRMM) mitigates data lost due to motion. However, the majority of paying customers so far are academic neuroimaging research centers; to ensure the commercial success of FIRMM, we need to expand the customer base to advanced brain mapping for clinical care. The goal of this CRP application is to fill the remaining gap in FIRMM’s path to clinical commercialization success by partnering with Philips to complete and verify FIRMM and FIRMM-pix integration with their scanner environment. Pediatric advanced brain mapping will serve as the initial proof-of-principle clinical market. Leading hospitals and device manufacturers have expressed enthusiasm to use FIRMM for clinical care; however, two main barriers to clinical adoption remain: a reduction in technician critical decision making and availability of a collection of motion tracking enabled navigator sequences for clinical care. Amongst the leading MRI manufacturers, Philips has a specific focus on pediatric brain imaging, which includes patient comfort solutions. Philips’ pulse sequence programming environment is unique in that it allows the addition of navigator pulses to exciting sequences much more easily than competitors such as Siemens and GE. Integrating FIRMM and FIRMM-pix navigated sequence package will create the first complete software-based motion mitigation solution for clinical brain mapping. Integrating the FIRMM tablet Philips' will lead to a more seamless integration into existing workflows; thus reducing the disruption to existing complex clinical workflows. In addition, integrating the FIRMM tablet with Philips will help facilitate the wide-spread adoption of FIRMM/-pix in the clinical market by obtaining widespread visibility via potential co-marketing with Philips and other medtech companies. This CRP is perfectly positioned to put FIRMM and its subsequent products on a pathway to long-term success.