Philips to ship mobile MRIs to Afghanistan
Naval Medical Logistics Command (NMLC) has contracted with Philips Healthcare for two mobile MRI systems to be shipped to Afghanistan to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI) of wounded soldiers.
The procurement of the MRI systems has been a joint initiative between NMLC's technical and operational partners including: Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, U.S. Army Medical Material Agency, Chief of Mobility Command, the Veterans Administration and the Army's Rapid Equipping Force.
The MRI systems may lead to discoveries in the diagnosis, treatment and enhanced follow-up care for wounded personnel with TBI, according to a statement issued by NMLC.
The MRI systems destined for Afghanistan differ from commercially available systems, said James B. Poindexter, commanding officer of NMLC. The units need to be self-contained, requiring that they be designed from the ground up to account for the challenging working environments that will be encountered in combat theater, such as vast temperature differences, fine blowing sand and power issues. They also must meet size and weight requirements to be capable of being airlifted into theater.
The Navy expects to deploy the systems by late summer, Poindexter said.
The procurement of the MRI systems has been a joint initiative between NMLC's technical and operational partners including: Bureau of Medicine and Surgery, U.S. Army Medical Material Agency, Chief of Mobility Command, the Veterans Administration and the Army's Rapid Equipping Force.
The MRI systems may lead to discoveries in the diagnosis, treatment and enhanced follow-up care for wounded personnel with TBI, according to a statement issued by NMLC.
The MRI systems destined for Afghanistan differ from commercially available systems, said James B. Poindexter, commanding officer of NMLC. The units need to be self-contained, requiring that they be designed from the ground up to account for the challenging working environments that will be encountered in combat theater, such as vast temperature differences, fine blowing sand and power issues. They also must meet size and weight requirements to be capable of being airlifted into theater.
The Navy expects to deploy the systems by late summer, Poindexter said.