Medical Design and Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Supplies and Components Index
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • MedTech Resources
    • Medtech Events in 2025
    • The 2024 Medtech Big 100
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Subscribe to Print Magazine
    • DeviceTalks
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Educational Assets
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
    • Video
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Women in Medtech
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

Wearable MRI glove gives new perspective to hand anatomy

May 9, 2018 By Danielle Kirsh

MRI glove

[Image from NYU]

A glove-shaped MRI component has shown the first clear images of bone, tendons and ligaments moving together, according to a new study from the New York University School of Medicine.

The NYU study showcased how a MRI element design that is woven into garment-like detectors can create high-quality images of moving joints. The researchers suggest that the glove prototype can be useful for diagnosing repetitive strain injuries like carpal tunnel.

The MRI glove shows how different tissue types impact each other as they naturally move, which can also give more insight into how the hand works while guiding surgery with hand images in a more realistic position and designing better prosthetics.

“Our results represent the first demonstration of an MRI technology that is both flexible and sensitive enough to capture the complexity of soft-tissue mechanics in the hand,” said lead author Bei Zhang, research scientist at the Center for Advanced Imaging Innovation and Research (CAI2R), in a press release.

MRI machines exposes tissues to a magnetic field that allows hydrogen atoms to attach to and create an average magnetic force in one direction with each tissue slice. The magnets can then be moved out of equilibrium by waves of electromagnetic force where they begin to spin like tops and emit radio signals, which indicates where they are located that can be translated into images.

An MRI also depends on the ability of radiofrequency coils to convert radio waves into an electrical current. Radio waves don’t produce as many electrical currents inside received coils, so they end up creating their own magnetic fields, preventing nearby coils from capturing a clean signal.

The researchers wanted to create a structure with high impedance that blocks current and measures how hard the force in any magnetic waves is pushing voltage as it tries to create a current. The glove-shaped MRI component receiver coils no longer create magnetic fields that interfere with other nearby receivers. It creates images of freely moving muscles, tendons and ligaments in a hand as it performs tasks like playing piano and grabbing objects without the need for rigid structures.

Hydrogen atoms make up an MRI signal which means the technology is able to image soft tissue structures that are rich in water. This is why MRI is ideal for imaging muscles, nerves and cartilage that can be typically harder to study with other non-invasive methods. However, tendons and ligaments are made of dense proteins that show up as black bands on the sides of bones. With the glove, the coils showed how the black bands moved with the bones.

“We wanted to try our new elements in an application that could never be done with traditional coils, and settled on an attempt to capture images with a glove,” said senior author Martijn Cloos, assistant professor from the CAI2R institute in the Department of Radiology at NYU Langone Health. “We hope that this result ushers in a new era of MRI design, perhaps including flexible sleeve arrays around injured knees, or comfy beanies to study the developing brains of newborns.”

The research was published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.

About The Author

Danielle Kirsh

Danielle Kirsh is an award-winning journalist and senior editor for Medical Design & Outsourcing, MassDevice, and Medical Tubing + Extrusion, and the founder of Women in Medtech and lead editor for Big 100. She received her bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism and mass communication from Norfolk State University and is pursuing her master's in global strategic communications at the University of Florida. You can connect with her on Twitter and LinkedIn, or email her at dkirsh@wtwhmedia.com.

Related Articles Read More >

A photo of Highridge Medical CEO Rebecca Whitney.
Highridge Medical is betting on this spine tech
An image of the Abbott Volt PFA System catheter and cart, which helps physicians visualize the location and effectiveness of cardiac ablation.
Abbott’s Volt PFA system isn’t just a catheter and a waveform
UH AI chest X-ray algorithm
New AI system predicts radiologists’ eye movements to improve training and diagnostics
An illustration showing the Artedrone Sasha thrombectomy catheter approaching a blood clot.
This microrobot system is designed to float inside a stroke patient for autonomous thrombectomy
“mdo
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest medical device business news, application and technology trends.

DeviceTalks Weekly

See More >

MDO Digital Edition

Digital Edition

Subscribe to Medical Design & Outsourcing. Bookmark, share and interact with the leading medical design engineering magazine today.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
DeviceTalks

DeviceTalks is a conversation among medical technology leaders. It's events, podcasts, webinars and one-on-one exchanges of ideas & insights.

DeviceTalks

New MedTech Resource

Medical Tubing

MassDevice

Mass Device

The Medical Device Business Journal. MassDevice is the leading medical device news business journal telling the stories of the devices that save lives.

Visit Website
MDO ad
Medical Design and Outsourcing
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • MedTech100 Index
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Medical Design Sourcing
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World
  • R&D World
  • About Us/Contact
  • Advertise With Us
  • Subscribe to Print Magazine
  • Subscribe to our E-Newsletter
  • Listen to our Weekly Podcasts
  • Join our DeviceTalks Tuesdays Discussion

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media LLC. Site Map | Privacy Policy | RSS

Search Medical Design & Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Supplies and Components Index
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • MedTech Resources
    • Medtech Events in 2025
    • The 2024 Medtech Big 100
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Subscribe to Print Magazine
    • DeviceTalks
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Educational Assets
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
    • Video
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Women in Medtech
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe