New materials developed by researchers at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology are expected to significantly improve the performance of MRI scans, helping with early diagnosis for a range of diseases and reducing the need for some radiation-intensive tests.

An MRI – or magnetic resonance imaging – is a noninvasive procedure used by clinicians to get an image of what is happening inside a person’s body, including their organs, bones and blood vessels.

But one of the limitations of conventional MRI devices is that they struggle to detect metabolites – small molecules involved in the body’s chemical processes – as they have a very low concentration in tissue.

These metabolites are important clinical markers for various health conditions, including cancer, and as a result researchers have sought to find a way to identify metabolites in imaging scans.

In a recent article published in the Science Advances journal, the team at the Technion outlines its new way of identifying metabolites during an MRI, with materials that can enhance the magnetic resonance signal by up to four times during the test and preserve the signal for around 10 minutes instead of the standard one minute.

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