Health technology company Hyperfine Research Inc said on Monday that it plans to use the world's first portable, low-cost magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system at the bedside of patients in the neuro intensive care unit of Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) under an agreement with Yale School of Medicine.

Through the Point-of-Care (POC) MRI, Hyperfine aims to make MRI accessible and available anywhere, anytime, to any patient who needs it. The new MRI system can move directly to the bedside, plug into a wall outlet and operate in any healthcare setting.

In partnership with the American Heart Association, Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) is the first hospital to use the Hyperfine POC MRI system on patients. YNHH is helping test the clinical workflow, user interface and image quality of Hyperfine's system.

Under the two year study, the company aims to overcome barriers that have prevented the routine use of MRI on unstable neurology intensive care unit patients who cannot be transported.

To date, YNHH has completed 138 brain MRI exams of 123 patients with known, acute neuropathology, as well as ischemic stroke, hematomas, tumors and hydrocephalus. The preliminary findings of the research are expected to be announced in early 2020.