Invention: Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) for medical diagnostics
The invention of a new medical diagnostic method known as magnetic particle imaging (MPI) by German physicists Bernhard Gleich and Jürgen Weizenecker at Philips Research Laboratory in Hamburg holds the promise of diagnostic imaging to be performed in real time with unique features.
The team's magnet-based imaging method, in pre-clinical evaluation since 2014, promises to enable doctors to obtain instant, three-dimensional images of soft tissue complications, including cancers and vascular diseases, with a spatial resolution of up to 0.5 millimetres. MPI also unlocks applications in materials sciences and fluid dynamics, as well as new levels of quality and safety control by detecting surface cracks and fractures.
Bernhard Gleich and Jürgen Weizenecker achieved their breakthrough by extensively studying the properties of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) in response to an oscillating magnetic field. The interaction between magnetic field and particles, administered to patients in liquid form and safely processed via the body's iron metabolism, offers the potential to mapping arterial pathways and organs in 3D during a wide range of dynamic medical phenomena.
Societal benefit
Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a major cause of death and disability in developed countries, currently accounting for over one third of deaths in people over 35 years of age (American Heart Association). Prevention and early diagnosis are important for stopping the often slowly progressive disease that will affect nearly one half of all middle-aged men and one third of middle-aged women at some point.
The clinical availability of MPI would indicate a new level of mapping coronary pathways and detecting arterial blockages. In addition to detecting cancers, MPI could also deliver live images during surgery, affording physicians insights into the effects of manipulation or drug injections in real time.
Economic benefit
MPI technology entered into pre-clinical trials in September 2014, when Philips' partner company, Bruker Corporation, installed its first pre-clinical MPI scanner at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE), Germany. Among other applications, researchers use the scanner for angiographic tomography, drawing on its excellent capacities to image the cardiovascular system. Headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts, USA, with 6 100 employees and EUR 1.65 billion in revenue (2014), Bruker Corporation specialises in scientific instruments for molecular and materials research.
The fast and precise scanning devices could cause a shift in the segment of the Pre-clinical Imaging (in-vivo) market, currently forecast to reach EUR 731 million globally by 2019, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.0% from 2014 to 2019 (MarketsandMarkets).
