The Ingenia Ambition 1.5T is the latest advance in the Ingenia MR portfolio, which comprises digital MRI systems, healthcare informatics, and a range of maintenance and life-cycle services for integrated solutions that aim to enable improved outcomes, lowered cost of care delivery and enhanced patient and staff experience.The first commercial installation of the Ingenia Ambition 1.5T was recently completed at Uster Hospital, a major provider of extended primary healthcare in the canton of Zurich, Switzerland. The Ingenia Ambition 1.5T is CE-marked and has received 510k clearance from FDA in the US.
The perception is often that MR represents a trade-off between productivity and image quality. The Ingenia Ambition 1.5T provides leading MR imaging capabilities while helping to increase overall productivity. It combines its revolutionary BlueSeal magnet with features that can help reduce downtime, enable single-operator workflow and speed up exam times with Compressed SENSE by up to 50% (compared to Philips exams without Compressed SENSE).
"MRI provides exceptional diagnostic and therapy guidance capabilities, but it also places substantial operational demands on the hospital or imaging centre. This is due to requirements for installation, footprint and service," says Arjen Radder, global business leader for MR at Philips. "BlueSeal is breakthrough MRI technology and we are proud to be first to market. The fully sealed magnet dramatically reduces the amount of liquid helium needed to cool to about seven litres. This results in significant operational benefits for our customers."
In incorporating this breakthrough fully sealed magnet, the Ingenia Ambition 1.5T is the world's first MR system to enable helium-free operations, reducing the chance of potentially lengthy and costly disruptions, and virtually eliminating dependency on an unpredictable commodity. The fully sealed system does not require a vent pipe and is approximately 900kg lighter than its predecessor. This significantly reduces the siting challenges presented by conventional magnets and lowers construction costs.
"Our siting space was an issue, but fortunately the Ingenia Ambition 1.5T is well designed for this.'' says Dr Christoph Juli, CT and MR Lead, Uster Hospital, Switzerland. "From the first scan, we have been positively surprised by the field homogeneity and the quality of the images coming from the Ingenia Ambition 1.5T. This new platform supports us everyday to deliver high quality MR services to both our referring physicians and patients."
The Ingenia Ambition 1.5T includes a range of features that combine to deliver a step-change in productivity. With Philips' EasySwitch solution, the BlueSeal's magnetic field can be easily turned off if an item is trapped in the bore.
Once the problem is resolved, an in-house or Philips technician can initiate an automated ramp-up to bring the magnet back to field, minimising operational downtime.
Philips' Compressed SENSE is an advanced acceleration application that reduces exam times by up to 50%. In addition, Philips' VitalEye is a unique approach to detecting patient physiology and breathing movement.
VitalEye technology and algorithms intelligently extract signs of breathing - allowing routine exam set-up time to occur in less than a minute, even for less experienced operators. These allow clinicians to focus on the patient.
