GE Healthcare, a unit of General Electric Company, in collaboration with Cincinnati Children’s Medical Center and the Davis Heart and Lung Institute of The Ohio State University, has been awarded $1m for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and devices for the 'Pediatrics Population' project.

The Pediatrics Populations project, funded by the Third Frontier programthrough the State of Ohio, will address the lack of pediatric magnetic resonance imaging coils and surgical stabilisation devices with integrated imaging coils by creating industrial-academic collaboration.

GEHC Coils, a wholly owned Ohio-based subsidiary of the General Electric Company, is teaming up with clinicians and researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Ohio State University to design, build and validate new pediatric coils for use in the head, heart and other anatomies as well as new solutions for surgical magnetic resonance pediatric fixation.

MRI has become the diagnostic imaging modality of choice for many disease states. MRI has the ability to display anatomy in exquisite detail and provides radiologists multiple ways to examine living tissue without surgery or radiation.

The project reinforces GE’s commitment to healthymagination which works to bring new technologies and solutions to more people.

Jim Davis, general manager of MR business at GE Healthcare, said: “Use of coils designed for adults result in poor resolution or inability to image small body structures in children. This collaboration will help us produce images with superior clarity to help clinicians improve imaging of pediatric patients.

“The grant will allow us to explore the development of coils that will give us the ability to visualize a wide range of anatomy that varies in size.

“Specialized imaging coils and surgical stabilization devices specifically targeting anatomy for young children would be extremely valuable in enhancing the ability to obtain diagnostic images, and improve the quality of healthcare for sick children.”