£2.5 million collaboration to explore MRI for newborn intensive care

13 April 2011

The Wellcome Trust has awarded a Strategic Translation Award worth almost £2.5 million to GE Healthcare to investigate the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for newborns at high risk of brain injury.

In the UK, approximately five in every 1000 babies born suffer brain injury and of those, approximately one in five die. Babies that survive early brain injury are at high risk of developing long-term neurological problems. Improving the speed and accuracy of the diagnosis of brain problems in babies is essential for improving clinical outcomes.

Ultrasound technology is most commonly used to image newborns that are at high risk of developing brain injury, largely because the technique can be performed within the neonatal unit at the hospital.

MRI is widely accepted as being a better diagnostic tool; however, in many centres it is not practical to take babies to an MRI scanner, which is usually located in another part of the hospital or sometimes at another centre. As a result, the risk of removing a baby from the protective environment of the neonatal intensive care unit usually outweighs the potential benefit to be gained from the higher sensitivity of MRI.

The Wellcome Trust award will initially be used to investigate how MRI could be placed within the neonatal unit itself, removing the need to transfer the infant. This research will lead to a better understanding of the technology required to care for infants in a neonatal intensive care environment.

Ted Bianco, Director of Technology Transfer at the Wellcome Trust, said: "I am delighted that this partnership will facilitate the development of MRI imaging tailored to the needs of doctors caring for vulnerable young lives."

Commenting on the award, Paritosh Dhawale, general manager of Specialty MR, GE Healthcare said: "We are excited to be selected by Wellcome Trust to receive this prestigious award for research and development. As we continue to push the boundaries of discovery using specialty MRI in novel ways, we're always mindful of the significant impact innovative technology may have on the diagnosis and treatment of even the smallest patients."

Image: A premature baby in an incubator. Credit: Wellcome Images.