As hospitals and health systems worry over the unsteady supply of helium, a necessary element for MRI machines, Royal Philips installed its thousandth "virtually helium-free MRI," the company said Feb. 28.
The BlueSeal 1.5T MR scanner requires 0.5% of the helium needed for a conventional Philips MR system that uses 1,500 liters of helium. The company launched the product in 2018, and since then, more than 1.9 million liters of helium have been diverted.
For years, the supply of helium has been rocky. The element is the coldest on Earth and keeps the magnetic fields in MRI machines cool enough to operate. An estimated 40 million MRI scans are conducted each year in the U.S. to detect cancer, spinal cord injuries, liver diseases and heart conditions.
In late January, the U.S. sold the Federal Helium Reserve, which supplies around 30% of the nation's helium, and health system leaders are concerned about more disruptions.
To address helium scarcity, more than 1,000 of the BlueSeal machines are now installed across the world, and Philips is working to offer the product in a mobile truck.