00:00It's one of the most important medical examination procedures of our time, Magnetic Resonance
00:07Imaging or MRI.
00:10The devices are used to take images of the inside of the body, such as the brain, ligaments
00:16or internal organs.
00:18This allows tumours, heart attacks or joint damage to be detected and treated at an early
00:23stage and all without radiation.
00:26Less than half of the world's population has access to MRI devices.
00:30In a country like India, the poverty is the biggest issue.
00:35And second biggest issue is to assess the medical facilities.
00:40While there are around 35 MRI devices per million inhabitants in Germany, there are
00:46only a tenth of that in India.
00:48This is because MRI devices are not only large and heavy, but also extremely energy intensive
00:54and expensive.
00:55For high-resolution images, they need strong magnetic fields.
00:59And these are generated by superconducting wire coils through which large electric currents
01:05can flow without loss.
01:07This requires complex and expensive cooling.
01:10However, an innovation from the German city of Erlangen could make MRIs more accessible
01:16worldwide.
01:17A group of researchers has succeeded in developing smaller, lighter and energy-saving MRI scanners.
01:24Our new system is more compact and less expensive than previous systems.
01:29It works independently of infrastructure and can be operated by anyone.
01:35This means the three researchers have developed a much smaller magnet for their MRI.
01:40It's cooled with helium.
01:42However, the new technology only requires a fraction of the previous amount and no longer
01:47needs to be refilled.
01:49This not only makes the device lighter and more compact, but also significantly cheaper
01:54to operate.
01:55And it can also be used safely in regions with an unreliable power supply.
02:01The smaller magnet initially makes the images worse, which means the noise is stronger.
02:06To compensate, we have to work with new methods such as artificial intelligence.
02:11Without it, the MRI device would take several hours to deliver a high-resolution scan.
02:20Look at the images.
02:21We have the same spinal column here, both with and without AI.
02:25The expert can see immediately that these images have much more detailed information
02:30than the images without, and that's exactly what happens.
02:35The AI supplements the images with standard information on the respective body region,
02:41resulting in high-resolution images.
02:44The development took 10 years and at its peak employed several hundred people.
02:50The three researchers received the Deutsche Zukunftspreis, an award that honours outstanding
02:55research and development projects for their innovation.
02:59Several hundred of their systems have now been produced and sold in over 60 countries
03:03worldwide.
03:05Now to Amritsar, a city in northwest India with a population of one million.
03:10This hospital, which was funded by donations, recently acquired its first MRI scanner.
03:16It's the only one for hundreds of kilometres and it's in great demand.
03:21So with the help of this machine, we are available to provide the diagnostic services in very
03:28reasonable prices.
03:31The reasonable price is primarily based on the lower operating costs compared to conventional
03:36MRI devices.
03:37Earlier, after every two to three years, they have to refill helium.
03:43Now in this world crisis, there is a very shortage of helium.
03:47The Magnetom Freestar uses only 0.7 helium.
03:51You don't have to refill every time.
03:54The hospital also opted for this MRI device because it's smaller and more compact and
04:00it doesn't require highly trained staff either.
04:03But it's still a relatively large, heavy device.
04:07It remains to be seen whether MRIs can become even smaller in the future.
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