Creating a Collaborative Network of Highly Skilled MRI Professionals
The 2023 SWiM program focused on cardiac MRI (CMR) acquisition training and upskilled 43 MRI technologists from 28 imaging centers in Africa, Latin America and South East Asia.
Improving Diagnostic Imaging Access by Transforming Workflows
The pilot 2023 program created CMR imaging protocols tailored for producing best quality imaging across participating sites. The SWiM protocols transformed the clinical workflow from the typical single protocol for all clinical indications to protocols designed for common indications, effectively reducing the scan times by 50% while improving CMR image quality. This enables more patients to be scanned and better diagnostic information acquired to guide patient care. The SWiM CMR protocols from participating sites and their scanners are available at the SWiM repository for anyone interested to use.
Enabling Implementation of Advanced MRI in Resource-Limited Settings
One of the aims of SWiM is to accelerate implementation of advanced MRI techniques in resource-limited setting, particularly in LMICs to enable clinical adoption and inclusion in global research. In 2023, advanced CMR techniques such as non-contrast enhanced oxygen-sensitive CMR (OS-CMR) developed by Prof. Matthias Friedrich (McGill University) were introduced at participating sites, leveraging existing standard sequences. The OS-CMR images and quantification values implemented at a participating site during SWiM were comparable and within expected range.
To learn more about the pilot program and its impact, read our paper in Journal of American College of Radiology
