Clinical Use of Bedside Portable Low-field Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Patients on ECMO: The Results from Multicenter SAFE MRI ECMO Study
This study evaluates the safety and efficacy of ultra-low-field portable MRI (ULF-pMRI) for detecting acute brain injuries in ECMO patients across two academic centers. ULF-pMRI was successfully used in 50 patients, showing good quality images of intracranial pathologies. Adverse events occurred in 6% of cases, demonstrating the procedure’s safety. The incidence of acute brain injury was 44%, with ULF-pMRI providing more sensitive detection of ischemic injuries compared to traditional head CT scans. This suggests ULF-pMRI’s potential in improving clinical care and research on ECMO-associated brain injuries.