Imaging Now & Next

^{_{Renata Krawczyk | International Application Team Leader MR/CT, FUJIFILM Healthcare Europe | November 2021}}Fujifilm's open magnetic resonance systems are a response to a changing society – in Europe and in the whole world. There are more and more of us, we are getting older, we are getting fatter, we have more and more physical and mental health problems. How to provide adequate medical care to an increasing number of patients with special requirements? Patients with obesity, for whom the standard closed system is "too small", patients with claustrophobia who run away from the room just after looking at the "tunnel", or elderly patients for whom the comfort of the examination, the possibility of contact with somebody during the procedure is the most important. The increasing availability of MR examination means that children are increasingly referred to this examination. These are groups that, although often overlooked and treated as niche, will constitute a growing percentage of patients in MR systems.

^{_{Renata Krawczyk | International Application Team Leader MR/CT, FUJIFILM Healthcare Europe | November 2021}}FUJIFILM Healthcare Europe is a market leader in open magnetic resonance imaging. Since the first system shown in 1983, the company has consistently developed a line of open, patient-friendly, and environmentally friendly systems. More than 9,000 such open MR systems with magnetic field strength from 0.2T to 0.4T have been installed worldwide. The company is constantly developing the product, introducing new technologies and software solutions.

^{_{Luca Mastrogirolamo | European Clinical Applications Manager, FUJIFILM Healthcare Europe | October 2021}}Women experience various diseases and conditions during their life owing to their distinct gender-based physiological characteristics or socio-cultural discrimination. Such “reproductive health-based conditions” constitute a major cause of morbidity and mortality of women worldwide. According to WHO, in 2017, approximately 810 women died daily from preventable pregnancy-related causes, 94% of which belonged to low- and middle-income countries¹. In 2020, 685,000 women died of breast cancer worldwide². Additionally, in 2017, heart disease was a leading cause of death in women in the United States³.

^{_{Janos Esztergalyos | CT/MR Product Manager, FUJIFILM Healthcare Europe | August 2021}}The past few years have seen a significant increase in patient load, mainly due to changing demographics, among other factors. Additionally, since diagnostic imaging is a highly competitive market, there has been a steady decline in the respective reimbursement plans due to immense pressure and increased workload.

^{_{Saki Ochiai | European Clinical Applications Manager Cardiovascular | July 2021}}The quantification and efficiency of performing measurements can be a challenge in daily cardiac ultrasound examinations. Providing the right support for reliable quantification and exam efficiency is needed so each user can perform a high-quality examination. In other words, our goal is to help sonographers and physicians obtain consistent measurement results in a short amount of time.

_{^{Janos Esztergalyos | CT/MR Product Manager | May 2021}} Magnetic resonance imaging is one of the fastest-growing diagnostic techniques that utilize magnetic field gradients to generate images. Currently, a 10.5 T system represents the world’s strongest MRI scanner that has been used on humans. The high-field MRIs use superconductive magnets whose cost-intensiveness, higher maintenance, and physiological side-effects have paved the way for the reconsideration of the low-field MRI systems, which use permanent magnets.