Recently, Basda has announced the launch of the helium-free 1.5T superconducting MR that helps solve the problem of global liquid helium shortage. Generally, a conventional 1.5T superconducting MRI requires nearly 1,000 Liter of liquid helium to operate normally. Our product hence becomes China's first MR system to enable helium-free operations, reducing the chance of potentially lengthy, costly, and even deadly disruptions, and virtually eliminating the dependency on a commodity with an unpredictable supply.

Have you heard of the liquid helium crisis?

Unfortunately, liquid helium, which is not only used in MRI machines but also in research, aviation, rocketry, weather balloons, and more, is one of the rarest elements on Earth. And in retrospect, a lot of the finite Helium reserve was wasted by selling it at a very low price.

Currently, more than 80% of the world's liquid helium supply comes from the United States, and China only accounts for about 0.2%. As a scarce strategic resource, liquid helium is very expensive. China’s liquid helium has long been dependent on imports from the United States, Qatar and other regions. Over the years, liquid helium became less available and the lack of helium supplies in the world increases the prices of liquid helium and worries people in the medical industry. Starting from 2019, global liquid helium production capacity will continue to decline for 3 consecutive years. In 2021, global annual production will drop to 2/3 of 2019. Therefore, the global liquid helium shortage is one of the urgent problems to be solved in the foreseeable future.

In response to the problem of liquid helium shortage, Basda Medical has made great efforts in R&D, adopting the breakthrough Green-Cool ultra-low temperature transmission technology that does not require liquid helium, and successfully develops a 1.5T superconducting MRI with literally "no liquid helium", in other words "zero consumption" MR system.

What are the benefits of the novel helium-free 1.5T superconducting MRI?

First, the advantages of the novel helium-free 1.5T superconducting MR system has 9 major advantages.

1) There is no liquid helium in the machine meaning there is no liquid helium loss under any circumstances.

2) There is no risk of frostbite or suffocation for doctors and patients.

3) The system is equipped with the functions of automatically dropping the field when the power is cut off, and automatically raising the field when the power is restored.

4) Using cloud interconnection technology, the status of the magnet can be viewed remotely through a mobile phone, and the system can be remotely operated such as lifting and lowering the field.

5) It can be installed in any country and region, completely isolated from the influence of liquid helium supply;

6) There is no need to configure a quench tube like the traditional 1.5T superconducting MRI, which protects the safety of patients and surrounding residents to the greatest extent.

7) Lower service tower height makes site selection easier;

8) Available with shipping, air transportation and land transportation which greatly minimizes the difficulty of magnet transportation;

9) The new magnet architecture platform adopts modular design with higher integration. After quenching under blackout, the magnet field can be automatically restored in a short period of time without the need for professional engineers to arrive on site.

2. Strong gradient system

Strong gradient field strength and gradient switching rate can provide shorter TE and TR options, bring faster imaging speed. As the result, it can significantly improve the image quality of DWI, SWI imaging and EPI sequences. The gradient system adopts self-shielding design, which can effectively avoid the eddy current between the metal shielding layers, and carry out more accurate spatial encoding of the magnetic resonance signal.

3. "Super Uniform B1 Technology" RF System

The “all-digital spectrometer plus high-power and high-frequency power” amplifier can provide a more uniform and accurate B1 field, shorter excitation time and stronger magnetic resonance excitation energy, providing a solid foundation for improving the performance of the pulse sequence.

4. The fully upgraded AIT software platform

The groundbreaking SWIFT 2D/3D dynamic enhancement sequence can be applied to the dynamic enhancement of liver and breast which leads to thinner layer thickness and faster speed. With its supplementary RF fat sat technology, the system can provide options such as automatic subtraction in order to provide a new diagnostic visual field.

Groundbreaking CE-MRA Technology

Basda Medical has been a leader in China’s MRI field for many years, not only with its range of bench top scanners but also with its digital X Ray machine, ultrasound and nuclear medicine machine, which have the widest range of capabilities both for pre-clinical and whole body scanners. We hope that you found the information you were looking for in this news article – If you have further questions, feel free to contact us.