Diagnostics
Kingston Health Sciences among first to use portable MRI in the ICU
January 31, 2025
KINGSTON, ONT. – Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) has taken delivery of a portable MRI machine and soon plans to deploy it in its Intensive Care Unit (ICU). It’s just the ninth device of its kind to be used in Canada and only the second to be implemented in an ICU – the first is currently in use at St. Michael’s Hospital, in Toronto.
The portable MRI, called the Swoop, is produced by Hyperfine Inc., in the United States and distributed in Canada by Upcare Partners of Toronto.
Dedicated to head exams, it’s expected to have a sizeable impact on the quality of care for KHSC patients. It’s also going to deliver some impressive cost-savings.
On the quality front, it means that ICU patients – who are often afflicted with strokes and bleeds – can be imaged right at the bedside instead of being transported to the radiology department.
This is significant, as ICU patients are very sick and have multiple IV lines, wires and catheters attached to them; getting to the radiology department with these intact is both challenging and time consuming.
The various lines must be carefully removed or re-jigged for transport and special care must be taken in the imaging suite. It is well documented in medical literature that complications occur during transport of sick ICU patients.
“Patient transport is inherently risky, even inside a hospital,” said Dr. Omar Islam, head, Radiology at KHSC. Studies have shown, he noted, that 26 percent to 45 percent of ICU patients who are transported within hospitals suffer an adverse event.
“With all the lines, tubes and catheters involved, things can go wrong,” he commented.
It’s far better for patient safety, he said, to be able to provide an MRI exam on neuro patients at the bedside in the ICU.
Their lines can stay intact, the frail patients don’t have to be moved, and the Hyperfine Swoop stroke exam can be done in a few minutes. A full brain scan is completed in approximately 40 minutes, supervised by a single doctor, nurse or technologist.
That contrasts with 90 minutes that’s needed in the MRI imaging suite, where time is required to position the patient and to adjust the various lines and catheters. The imaging suite also involves the participation of a whole team of nurses, respiratory therapists, technologists and porters.
Dr. Islam and his team were instrumental in bringing the first Hyperfine Swoop to Canada. The machine – which looks like the R2D2 character from the Star Wars movies – was delivered to the Weeneebayko General Hospital in Moose Factory, Ont., in 2021.
It’s a remote location where patients often had to be flown by Medevac to Timmins or Kingston to obtain an MRI confirming a stroke or other neurological condition.
Dr. Islam learned about the Swoop at a medical conference in the United States and worked with the company, colleagues at Weeneebayko General, fellow researchers, elders in Moose Factory, and Health Canada to bring Canada’s first portable MRI into use.
So, instead of flying patients to larger hospitals, the MRI exams could be done locally, in Moose Factory, and the files could be sent electronically to neuroradiologists at KHSC and Queen’s University. It turned out to be a much easier process for patients and a much more cost-effective one.
The 18-month long project proved so successful that Weeneebayko General has acquired the device for ongoing use, thanks to a donor who provided the funding.
The Hyperfine Swoop costs approximately $600,000, but is projected to save the Weeneebayko General Hospital $7.8 million over five years – mostly in transport-related and nursing costs.
“It costs roughly $17,000 to transport each patient,” said Dr. Islam. He noted that a nurse must also accompany each neuro patient when Medevac flights are arranged, meaning the further loss of a trained healthcare provider at Weeneebayko for up to several days.
“There was already a nurse shortage in Moose Factory,” noted Dr. Islam. By administering the MRI exams at the point-of-care with the Swoop, nurses can remain on-site, continuing to provide care to local patients.
Due to its far northern location, on the shores of James Bay, inclement weather was also a constant hazard. Before using the Swoop, stroke patients at Weeneebayko General were sometimes detained by bad weather – snow storms or heavy ice meant that Medevac flights could be delayed for days at a time.
Of course, in the case of strokes, time is of the essence, and the earlier the patient is diagnosed and treated, the better. For this reason, and the others cited, the portable MRI will be a game changing addition.
Dr. Islam asserted the Swoop will be just as valuable for the transport of ICU patients at Kingston General.
“Sometimes it’s as difficult to move patients the 500 metres from the ICU to the radiology department as it is to get them here from Moose Factory,” he said.
That’s because the frail neuro patients outfitted with catheters, IV lines and wires are very difficult to move from one room to another. Moreover, it’s a challenge to round up the human resources needed for transport at a time of staff shortages.
By imaging patients in the ICU, the hospital will also free up resources in the radiology department, meaning that other patients can obtain exams on conventional MRIs. In turn, wait lists for outpatients requiring cancer imaging can be reduced.
Dr. Islam estimates the hospital will be able to provide MRI exams to 648 more cancer patients – a current focus of care – each year.
And the sooner the cancer patients can be scanned, the sooner their issues can be addressed, leading to better care and hopefully, improved outcomes.
Noting the 90 minutes that it takes to prepare and image an ICU patient in the MRI suite, Dr. Islam said the human resource benefits of being able to scan patients at bedside in the ICU cannot be underestimated.
As well, a nurse, respiratory therapist, and a porter are needed to accompany the patients to the imaging suite – at a time when there is a shortage of these healthcare professionals.
Acquiring the $600,000 Swoop, he said, is a cost-effective way of improving neurological and cancer care. Just by imaging 20 neurological patients each month in the ICU, which is the current estimate, KHSC expects to save 1728 hours of staff time annually while creating capacity to scan 648 more cancer patients in the radiology department each year.
“It’s a no-brainer, pardon the pun,” quipped Dr. Islam. “Or should I say, it’s a nothing but brainer?”
He commented that the purchase of the Swoop is being made possible in Kingston, just as it was in Moose Factory, by a financial contribution from a generous donor. The centre was scheduled to have a ceremony marking the launch of the machine at the end of January.
Dr. Islam noted the Hyperfine Swoop is an ultra low-field MRI, with a field strength of 64 milliTesla, not much more than a fridge magnet. That compares with the 1.5T and 3T field strength of the magnets used in conventional MRIs. It uses the same power supply as a coffee machine.
He said the Swoop doesn’t replace a conventional MRI by any means, but it provides images that allow radiologists to determine if a patient does indeed have a stroke. It also enables them to check the position of shunts and catheters to assist in surgical planning and to assess brain bleeds.
“It’s almost like a different modality,” said Dr. Islam. “It’s not a traditional MRI image, or a CT or ultrasound. It’s something different. But it’s exquisitely sensitive to assessing strokes, brain swelling, the size of bleeds, and the location of shunts and catheters. That’s all we need to make an accurate and timely diagnosis and proceed with treatment.”