Ultra-low Field Portable MRI as a Neuroimaging Tool to Identify and Characterize Brain Atrophy in Patients with Neurodegenerative Diseases

Motivation: Neuroimaging is an important tool in diagnosing and characterizing neurodegenerative disorders, yet it is not readily accessible. Goal(s): We aimed to determine if a lower-cost ultra-low field (ULF) portable MRI machine could identify brain atrophy with a similar sensitivity as standard MRI. Approach: We segmented paired 3T and ULF (64mT) MRI brain images from patients with neurodegenerative disorders and healthy controls and performed a clustering analysis based on morphometric features indicative of brain atrophy. Results: We found that ULF can identify brain atrophy with similar specificity and sensitivity to 3T (ULF Sensitivity: 82% and Specificity: 92%; 3T Sensitivity: 83% and Specificity: 87%). Impact: Ultra-low field (ULF), portable MRI can identify brain atrophy with a similar sensitivity and specificity as standard 3T MRI. ULF may serve as a more accessible clinical research and diagnostic tool to identify and understand neurodegenerative disease mechanisms.