Quantum-Enhanced MRI System QuantumScan First Prototype Enters Service in Berlin: Brain Imaging Resolution Improves Tenfold

Quantum-Enhanced MRI System QuantumScan First Prototype Enters Service in Berlin

On October 7, 2030, Germany's Siemens Healthineers and the Technical University of Berlin jointly announced that the world's first quantum-enhanced MRI system, QuantumScan, has entered service at Berlin's Charite Hospital. QuantumScan uses quantum sensors to enhance MRI signal sensitivity, improving brain imaging spatial resolution from the traditional 1 millimeter to 50 micrometers without increasing the main magnetic field strength.

Traditional MRI resolution is limited by signal-to-noise ratio. The conventional approach to improving resolution is increasing magnetic field strength (from 1.5T to 3T to 7T), but ultra-high-field MRI not only has extremely high equipment costs but also increases patient discomfort and SAR (radiofrequency energy deposition) risks.

QuantumScan's breakthrough uses nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center-based quantum sensors to detect MRI signals. NV centers are atomic-level defects in the diamond lattice that are extremely sensitive to weak magnetic fields. QuantumScan places NV sensor arrays near the patient's head to directly detect the weak nuclear magnetic resonance signals produced by brain tissue, bypassing the sensitivity bottleneck of traditional antenna detection.

Professor Friedemann Reinhard of the Technical University of Berlin is QuantumScan's lead scientist. He said: "50-micrometer resolution means we can see the structure of individual cortical columns in the cerebral cortex — the basic functional units of human cognition. Previously, this level of detail could only be observed during autopsy."

QuantumScan's initial application research directions include early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (detecting hippocampal microstructure changes) and precise delineation of brain tumor boundaries. The head of Charite's neuroradiology department expects QuantumScan to begin influencing clinical decisions by 2032.

The QuantumScan prototype costs approximately 15 million euros, about 5 times that of a traditional 3T MRI. Siemens Healthineers plans to launch a clinical version by 2033.