Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) is now only the second hospital in Ontario to have a portable magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine for clinical use in its Intensive Care Unit (ICU), thanks to the generosity of donor Stephen Sorensen who made a $500,000 donation through the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation.
The Swoop Portable MRI Imaging System will be used in the ICU and will help KHSC provide more timely care, with less discomfort and interruption for patients that require imaging of the brain. The ultra-low-field magnetic resonance device can be moved to a patient’s bedside, is plugged into a normal electrical wall outlet, is operated using a mobile device such as a tablet or smartphone, and acquires images within minutes without radiation exposure.
Patients in the ICU are critically ill and are hooked up to various life-support devices such as catheters, tubes and IVs. So, transporting them to the MRI or CT suite is challenging. Thanks to the portable MRI, eligible patients will no longer have to be moved for certain urgent scans.
“This brings the risk of transporting ICU patients down to zero,” says Department of Diagnostic Radiology Head Dr. Omar Islam. “It’s only about 500 metres, but if you are a critically-ill patient in a busy hospital, sometimes that 500 metres can feel like 500 miles.”
The benefits of the portable MRI extend beyond improved patient outcomes. For example, it can take a medical team up to 90 minutes to move and monitor an ICU patient who requires a scan in the traditional MRI suite. Thanks to the portable MRI, the team can now stay in the ICU during this time to assist other patients.
Additionally, with fewer ICU patients in the traditional MRI and CT suites, time will be freed up for other patients to receive MRI and CT scans, such as those waiting for cancer scans. It will also contribute to timely access to radiology results, so doctors can make quicker decisions about treatment plans for their ICU patients.
A ribbon cutting ceremony was held at KHSC on January 29 and the portable MRI machine is expected to begin scanning ICU patients in a few weeks.
Dr. David Pichora, President and CEO of KHSC, is grateful to donor Stephen Sorensen for his extraordinary generosity.
“Thanks to Stephen, our hospital will have cutting-edge medical technology that brings advanced diagnostics directly to patients in need,” says Dr. Pichora. “This incredible gift will improve access to timely care, enhance patient comfort, and reinforces KHSC’s commitment to innovation, ensuring people in southeastern Ontario receive the best possible medical treatment.”
Sorensen has previously supported radiology at KHSC, including donations in support of the purchase of an MRI machine to be located at KHSC’s Breast Imaging Kingston clinic. He hopes his donations will lead to faster patient diagnoses and healthier patient outcomes.
“Radiology has been a passion of mine for decades, and in my opinion, may be the most important branch of medicine. Without our present imaging technology to diagnose and treat disease, we’d be back in the dark ages. These machines and the skilled radiologists who use them, make a dramatic difference in our quality of life,” said Sorensen who went on to say, “I’m thrilled to support the acquisition of the Hyperfine Swoop system, the world’s only portable MRI brain-imaging system, capable of providing non-radiation imaging at multiple points of care in a hospital, and in particular, the ICU. By investing in health care, everyone benefits.”
KHSC is only the second ICU in Ontario to use this innovative technology. Ontario’s first portable MRI installation was in Moose Factory (Weeneebayko General Hospital) in 2021. This initiative provides care closer-to-home for individuals living in remote northern communities and is supported through a partnership with KHSC and Queen’s University Health Sciences.
