Time Medical Participated in ISMRM Annual Meeting & Exhibition 2023

June 3rd – 8th 2023 - The International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) held its annual conference at the Metro Toronto Convention Center in Canada, the first on site MRI industry event after the pandemic, attracting over 6,000 radiologists, researchers, and manufacturer representatives from around the world.  More than 160 companies and medical institutes participated in the exhibition, including Time Medical (TM) and GE Healthcare, Philips and Siemens Healthineers (GPS).

The keynote Ernst Lecture (a Nobel Prize laureate in the MRI field) this year was delivered by Prof. Richard Ehman, the chief radiologist at Mayo Clinic and an advisor to Time Medical. Prof. Ehman is a world-renowned authority in the MRI field and former president of ISMRM. In his speech, he reviewed the development of MRI from science to medical, and pointed out while a new drug takes an average of 14 years from invention to product to clinical application, but innovation cycle in medical imaging is relatively shorter.  E.g. X-ray was used clinically in its second year of invention, and only four years for CT invention to be clinically-ready product. Today's MRI technology, such as parallel imaging is even shorter.  He also shared that the number of disruptive innovative inventions in the past 20 years has been decreasing, and called on the industry to promote disruptive innovation through industry-academia-research collaboration.

Prof. Richard Ehman, the chief radiologist at the Mayo Clinic Group gave a speech

Prof. Richard Ehman, the chief radiologist at the Mayo Clinic Group gave a speech

At the event, a special session on MRI in emerging countries saw experts from Singapore, India, South Africa and Chile introduced the development of MRI imaging service in Southeast Asia, India, Africa and Chile.  Prof. Khong Pek Lan, Dept. Head of Diagnostic Radiology at the National University Hospital in Singapore, presented a clinical survey report on MRI from numerous hospitals in Southeast Asia. The report pointed out that most parts of Southeast Asia such as Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam and Myanmar lack MRI, radiologists and technologists.  The number of MRI systems per million people in Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines and Indonesia are only 3.1, 2.7, 1, and 0.4 respectively, significantly lower than 38 in United States and 16.8 in Singapore. Furthermore, the cost of MRI diagnosis in these countries is relatively high, ranging from 250 to 400 USD, making it inaccessible for majority.  As such, Prof Khong called on the local government to increase investment to improve the accessibility of medical diagnostic services.

The CEO of an India company gave a talk on the development of India MRI industry and shared that the total installed MRI in India is around 6000 currently and it is expected that there will be over 600 more MRIs to be installed in 2023, showing the huge market growth potential in India. However, the market needs more innovative and cost-effective MRI systems and service, such as mobile imaging.

Prof. Khong Pek Lan, head of the Department of Diagnostic Radiology at the National University Hospital in Singapore and TM Team

During the conference, TM sales team hosted dozens of radiologists and researchers from more than 20 countries across Europe, America and Asia. The company's neonatal MRI system aka NEONA, attracted widespread attention from pediatric radiology experts from institutions such as Harvard Medical School's Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), Mayo Clinic, Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Toronto Sick Children Hospital, National University Hospital in Singapore, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC).  Time Medical also showcased its ultra-high-field 7T/9.4T biomed MRI system, NOVA, which attracted interest and inquiries from several universities in Europe and the US, including Prof. Bruce Rosen of Harvard Medical School's MGH, and Prof. Keith Thulborn, a sodium MRI expert from the University of Illinois at Chicago, who expressed their intention to cooperate.

Dr. Sunitha Thakur, Dr. Katja Pinker from MSKCC radiology dept and TM Team

Prof. Richard Ehmen and his team with TM Team

Harvard Medical School's MGH Prof. Bruce Rosen and his team with TM Team

Prof. Clare Tempany, director of the Radiology Interventional Surgery Center at Harvard Medical School’s BWH and this year's ISMRM gold medal winner with TM Team

On the evening of June 7th, the Oversees Chinese MRI Medical Association (OCMRM) held its 2023 annual meeting in Toronto, attended by more than 200 Chinese MRI experts from around the world. TM was invited to speak at the conference, Mr. Alec Leung, the company's Vice President and International Sales Director, introduced TM's innovative 3B products and high-temperature superconducting MRI technology.

Mr. Alec Leung, the company's Vice President and International Sales Director delivered a speech

Mr. Alec Leung, the company's Vice President and International Sales Director delivered a speech

Siemens Healthineers highlighted the clinical application of 7T whole-body MRI brain imaging at the conference.  Thus far Siemens has installed over 26000 MRI worldwide with over 100 are 7T whole body MRI.  Prof. Ma and TM team met with the new CEO of Siemens Healthineers MRI division and his team (VP of Strategic Development, VP of Marketing, etc.) to discuss in-depth cooperation on the development of innovative products such as ultra-high field MRI and ultra-low field MRI. The CEO of Siemens Healthineers MRI division previously overlook the operation of Siemens' MRI facility in Shenzhen, China, and is familiar with the China market. The two parties will arrange for the Siemens Healthineers team to visit Time Medical's Hong Kong base.

GE Healthcare launched their artificial intelligence deep learning technology, Sonic DL, at the conference which could reduce cardiac MR scan time by 80%. The CEO of GE Healthcare's MRI division visited TM’s booth to examine the neonatal MRI system. The CEO discussed with the TM team on potential partnership, including comprehensive market cooperation on TM’s neonatal MRI, permanent magnet MRI as well as GE's Sonic DL products.

Time Medical Team