Why Your MRI Magnet Service Is Stuck in the Past and How to Bring It into the 21st Century
Anyone who has had a professional career in the imaging industry since the ’80s, ’90s, and early 2000s knows that helium consumption is just a fact of life when it comes to MRI magnets. Liquid helium was cheap and readily available 30 years ago. If you lost 500 liters over a weekend due to loss of power or a chiller failure, you simply picked up the phone and called your service provider while sipping your Monday morning coffee. It would probably cost $2-3k for a helium refill and any mechanical issues would be fixed within the course of a few days when the provider could send a technician to your site.
When helium loss was expected and the cost of a fill was negligible, this reactive service model could work. Today, that is no longer the case.
The Shift in MRI Technology and Helium Costs
Two major developments since the early 2000s should have transformed how we approach MRI maintenance.
Despite these changes, many MRI service models remain stuck in a reactive mode, designed for older magnets that constantly lost helium. This outdated service model is costing you money.
01
Zero Helium Boil Off Technology
GE introduced this technology in the early 2000s, allowing MRIs to reliquify and reuse helium, eliminating helium loss. Other manufacturers quickly followed with their own versions of zero boil off technology.
02
Rising Helium Prices
Liquid helium shortages have caused prices to rise by 525%, with costs now exceeding $25 per liter.
The Hidden Costs of a Reactive Service Model
Helium boil off was once an unavoidable cost, but with today’s technology, helium loss is entirely preventable. Yet, service models haven’t evolved because they didn’t have to—until now. As helium costs have skyrocketed, losing helium has become a significant and avoidable expense. In 2018, the industry faced a global helium crisis, and the cost of a typical helium refill ballooned to $25,000–$30,000, up from just $2,000–$3,000 in previous years.
This means that MRI facilities with $70,000 annual service contracts are seeing their profits take a 30% hit due to avoidable helium loss.
Retire the Reactive Service Model and Embrace a Proactive Approach
For the past 20 years, magnet service has been reactive. Technicians often only discover issues after a helium alarm goes off or after a manual check reveals a problem. During that time, MRI systems continue to lose helium. This outdated service model fails to account for modern challenges such as chiller failures, power outages, or minor but consistent helium leaks.
Despite advances in technology and the rising cost of helium, service models haven’t adapted—until now.
Helium Zer0: The Proactive Service Model for the 21st Century
TMC’s Helium Zer0 solution revolutionizes MRI magnet maintenance with 24/7/365 monitoring of all critical components, including power, chillers, and coldheads. With real-time monitoring, we analyze data trends to predict issues before they result in costly failures, allowing you to address problems early and avoid helium loss altogether.
How Helium Zer0 Works
- Predictive Maintenance: Using trend analytics, we can foresee mechanical issues months in advance, such as coldhead failure, chiller problems, or small helium leaks, allowing you to fix issues before they escalate.
- Proactive Alerts: Instead of waiting for you to report a problem, we notify you of potential issues based on our data monitoring, ensuring you’re informed before a failure occurs.
- Real-Time Monitoring: We monitor your MRI systems minute by minute, allowing us to detect subtle changes, such as an increase in chiller cycling, and alert you before it leads to a major failure.
- Comprehensive System Monitoring: Beyond your cooling system, we also track the environmental conditions in your MRI room, including air conditioning performance, to ensure optimal scanning conditions year-round.
Eliminate Costly Failures with Helium Zer0
Any system running 24/7 is bound to experience mechanical failures over time. However, with the Helium Zer0 program, you can eliminate the unnecessary costs associated with helium loss, lost scan time, and expensive repairs. By proactively monitoring your MRI system, we help you address problems before they become big issues, reducing downtime and protecting your bottom line.
Heium Zero Eliminates Your Risks of Exposure To High Dollar Failures On Your System
The Proactive Service Model You've Been Waiting For
With TMC’s Helium Zer0 program, we bring your MRI magnet maintenance into the 21st century. Our Remote Diagnostic Unit (RDU) provides real-time monitoring, data analytics, and diagnostics, enabling same-day issue resolution with minimal downtime. No longer should MRI maintenance rely on outdated practices from 20 years ago—with Helium Zer0, you can move toward a more efficient, cost-effective future.
