Abstract #0299

On-site construction of a point-of-care low-field MRI system in Africa

Johnes Obungoloch¹, Ivan Muhumuza¹, Wouter Teeuwisse², Joshua Harper³, Martin van Gijzen⁴, Steven Schiff⁵, Andrew Webb², and Thomas O'Reilly²

¹Mberara University of Science and Technology, Mberara, Uganda, ²Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands, ³Universidad Paraguayo Alemana, Asuncion, Paraguay, ⁴Delft Institute of Applied Mathematics, Delft, Netherlands, ⁵Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States

Synopsis

Keywords: Low-Field MRI, Low-Field MRIPoint-of-care (POC) low-field MRI systems have a large potential to increase the accessibility and sustainability of MRI in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). An important step in translating scientific developments from high-income countries to LMICs is technology that can be assembled or constructed locally. We describe the construction and testing of a POC system on site in Africa. All components to assemble a 50 mT Halbach magnet based system, together with the necessary tools, were air-freighted from The Netherlands to Uganda. With four instructors and six untrained personnel, the complete project from delivery to first image took approximately 11 days.

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