Rankin Inlet receives new portable MRI for head scans

RANKIN INLET, Nunavut – The Kivalliq Health Centre (KHC) in Rankin Inlet now has a Hyperfine Swoop Portable Head MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging), permanently stationed and ready to serve communities and residents across the Kivalliq region.

This new diagnostic tool will reduce out-of-territory travel for patients with head injuries, improve access to advanced diagnostics across the Kivalliq region and reflect the territory’s commitment to improving access to advanced medical technology while delivering care closer to home.

“I am determined to build on the foundation set by Premier John Main during his time as Minister of Health to continue strengthening health services across our territory, ensuring that more Nunavummiut receive care without having to leave their communities,” said Minister of Health Janet Pitsiulaaq Brewster.

The MRI is available for traumatic head injury cases with a referral from a local physician. Appointments will be scheduled on an as-needed basis. Trained, local diagnostic imaging technicians will operate the equipment, and reports will be issued by radiologists in Ottawa who oversee Nunavut’s diagnostic imaging services.

The Swoop Portable MR Imaging Systems are portable, ultra-low-field magnetic resonance imaging devices for producing images that display the internal structure of the head where full diagnostic examination is not clinically practical. When interpreted by a trained physician, these images provide information that can be useful in determining a diagnosis.

For its part, Hyperfine, Inc. is the groundbreaking health technology company that has redefined brain imaging with the Swoop® system – the first FDA-cleared, portable, ultra-low-field, magnetic resonance brain imaging system capable of providing imaging at multiple points of professional care. The mission of Hyperfine, Inc. is to revolutionize patient care globally through transformational, accessible, clinically relevant diagnostic imaging. Founded by Dr. Jonathan Rothberg in a technology-based incubator called 4Catalyzer, Hyperfine, Inc. scientists, engineers, and physicists developed the Swoop system out of a passion for redefining brain imaging methodology and how clinicians can apply accessible diagnostic imaging to patient care.

For more information, visit HyperfineMRI.com.