Philips & Synthetic MR Unveil Smart 3D Tech for Brain Disorder Diagnosis

This technology claims to provide valuable quantitative data for physicians to make informed decisions about patient diagnosis and treatment.

Global health technology leader Royal Philips has joined hands with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) software solutions company Synthetic MR to launch Smart Quant Neuro 3D, the latest advancement in objective decision support for diagnosing and assessing therapy outcomes for brain disorders.

This advanced technology, unveiled at #ECR2024, focuses on improving the diagnosis and monitoring of conditions such as multiple sclerosis (MS), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and dementia.

Per the partnership, the newly developed Smart Quant Neuro 3D is integrated with Philips' AI-based SmartSpeed image-reconstruction technology, Philips 3D SyntAc clinical application, and Synthetic MR's SyMRI NEURO 3D quantitative tissue assessment software.

This integration provides healthcare providers with advanced diagnostic tools to enhance decision support, assess disease progression, and monitor therapy effectiveness for various brain disorders.

Objective Measurement of Brain Tissues

Accurate measurement of the volume and distribution of different tissue types in the brain is crucial for diagnosing brain diseases. Visual assessments of MR images can be subjective, and measuring tissue volume from 2D image slices is challenging.

According to the company, Smart Quant Neuro 3D utilizes the power of AI to offer fully verified automatic and precise 3D segmentation and volume measurement of brain tissues, including white matter, gray matter, cerebrospinal fluid, and myelin.

Moreover, this technology claims to provide valuable quantitative data for physicians to make informed decisions about patient diagnosis and treatment.

Addressing Challenges in Diagnosing Brain Disorders

Life-changing brain injuries and neurodegenerative diseases pose challenges for clinicians due to the diverse symptoms exhibited by individual patients.

Smart Quant Neuro 3D seeks to address these challenges by offering an easy-to-use tool that provides valuable quantitative data to track the impact of treatments and make informed decisions. This continuous monitoring enables proactive management of neurological conditions, optimizing therapeutic outcomes for patients.

Highlighting the significance of Smart Quant Neuro 3D, Dr Julien Savatovsky, neuroradiologist & head, Radiology Department, Hospital Foundation Adolphe De Rothschild (Paris, France), said, "Smart Quant allows for shorter exams and exploration of quantitative metrics, which show great potential to better stratify patients with similar imaging characteristics on conventional MR sequences. It's a fast quantitative MR technique that's integrated into our clinical workflow, allowing us to generate multiple synthetic weighted images from a single sequence."

Smart Quant Neuro 3D further claims to excel in measuring myelin, the insulating layer around nerves that ensures electrical impulses in the brain reach their destination.

Myelin loss is a major characteristic of traumatic brain injuries (TBI), where the technology's ability to detect abnormalities not visible on conventional MR scans aids in early diagnosis and intervention. Quantitative measurement of myelin loss helps clinicians understand the extent and impact of TBI, differentiating it from other neurological diseases.

Quantitative measurement of myelin loss is also crucial in progressive brain diseases such as multiple sclerosis. This capability allows clinicians to assess the condition, track its progression over time, and evaluate the effect of the latest disease-modifying drugs.

Smart Quant Neuro 3D delivers additional information beneficial to patients, avoiding the need for multiple acquisitions and reducing the need for patient recalls.

AI-Based MR SmartSpeed Reconstruction Technology

Leveraging Philips' AI-based MR SmartSpeed reconstruction technology, Smart Quant Neuro 3D accelerates patient scanning and aids in accelerating radiology department throughput.

The technology increases imaging speed by nearly three times and provides up to 65% greater resolution. SyntheticMR's SyMRI NEURO 3D software, through automatic (zero-click) analysis, also claims to offer accurate tissue segmentation and volume measurement in less than 10 seconds of post-processing.

The collaboration between Philips and Synthetic MR underlines a commitment to advancing diagnostic capabilities, ultimately benefiting patients through improved accuracy, efficiency, and proactive management of neurological conditions.

In another recent development, Philips launched the Philips CT 5300 system, incorporating advanced AI capabilities for use in diagnosis, interventional procedures, and screening.

This CT scanner is designed to enhance productivity and diagnostic capabilities in high-throughput, short-staffed radiology departments, offering a range of features to improve patient outcomes and department efficiency.