In this year's ISMRM meeting, accessibility, Helium-free magnet, and high-performance gradients were at the top of many people's mind. In 2016, GE's 3T head-only scanner already combined all three. The figure above compares the 2019 ISMRM floor (right) showcasing GE's then-latest ESP head-only scanner, with this year's floor in Singapore (left) where MAGNUS 3T was unveiled with much acclaim. ESP didn't pan out; time will tell if MAGNUS will.
About Low-field: This year's ISMRM was flooded with low-field MRI presentations in all formats. Anyone who was in the MRI field long enough will know that performance is the key. Did the bar go down in the name of democratization? Will AI magically lift the SNR? Or is MRI undergoing a transition from a physics and engineering wonder to commodity electronics? Maybe all of the above. Something good may well come out of this, but I sincerely hope that the trend is guided by unselfish, conflict-free, balanced and broad view of MRI's place in medical imaging.
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