MotionScout - Motion Artifact Correction (under development)

Motion during scan induces image quality degradation (blurred images, motion "ghost" artifacts) to a degree that may require repetition of the scan. The sensitivity to motion increases with newer imaging like functional and diffusional MRI and with higher resolution scanners. As 20-30% of all scans are affected by motion, the direct annual financial burden of motion artifacts, due to the need to repeat scans, is estimated at $1 Billion in the USA alone.

The EndoScout system has been intensively evaluated for motion tracking, aiming to eliminate the effect of motion on diagnostic imaging. Many of the diagnostic scans are adversely affected by subject motion, including scans of children, non-cooperative adults, and new modalities like functional and diffusion MRI that are sensitive even to a minimal level of motion like tremor. The sensitivity of MRI to motion requires many of the scans in small children and in non-cooperative adults to be conducted under sedation or anesthesia, which doubles and triples the cost of the diagnostic study, and involves substantial risks. Ongoing clinical studies of motion artifact elimination using the EndoScout tracking system are conducted at the Massachusetts General Hospital and at the Boston Children’s Hospital in Boston.

The following image was taken from the abstract: Retrospective correction of head motion using measurements from an electromagnetic tracker. It shows substantialy lower artifact levels in image B where retrospective motion correction was used vs image A which is the uncorrected image. Images C and D are zoomed in areas of A and B respectively. Image D shows reduced blurring and improved gray/white matter differentiation.

Clinical applications:

  • Brain imaging in stroke patients
  • Patients with tremor (Parkinson disease, essential tremor)
  • Pediatric MRI
  • Joint imaging
  • Elimination of breathing artifacts


  • MotionScout related abstracts and patents

    Published papers

    Head motion measurement and correction using FID navigators
    Rapid measurement and correction of spatiotemporal B0 field changes using FID navigators and a multichannel reference image
    Retrospective correction of head motion using measurements from an electromagnetic tracker
    Motion-Robust MRI through Real-Time Motion Tracking and Retrospective Super-Resolution Volume Reconstruction

    Abstract submitted to ISMRM 2020

    A method of prospective motion correction with reacquisition for effective diagnostic imaging of pediatric patients

    Abstract presented at ISMRM 2019

    Robust retrospective correction of 3D golden-ratio radial MRI using electromagnetic tracking

    Abstracts presented at the ISMRM 23rd Annual Meeting

    June 2015 (Toronto Canada)
    Abstract 1: Using Brain Imaging Data to Detect and Correct Non-Rigid Sensor Motion in Prospective Motion Correction
    Abstract 2: Real-Time Dynamic Prediction of Motion during Prospective Motion Correction Helps Reduce Errors Caused by Fast Motions and Delayed Motion Measurements

    Patent Issued

    May 19, 2015
    US9037213B2

    Abstracts presented at the ISMRM Motion Correction in MRI Workshop

    July 2014 (Norway)
    Abstract 1:Preliminary Results on Motion Correction in Pediatric MRI Using an Electromagnetic Tracker
    Abstract 2:Slice-by-Slice Prospective Motion Correction in EPI Sequences
    Abstract 3:A System Identification Approach to Fusing Multiple Concurrent Motion Measurements and Estimating a Dynamic Model of Head Motion for MRI Motion Correction

    Abstract presented at the ISMRM 22nd Annual Meeting

    May 2014 (Milan, Italy)
    Slice-by-Slice Prospective Hardware Motion Correction in EPI and Simultaneous Multislice Sequences

    Abstracts presented at the ISMRM 21st Annual Meeting

    April 2013 (Utah, USA)
    Abstract 1:Motion Robust High Resulution FLASH
    Abstract 2:Motion Detection for Diffusion Weighted MRI using EPI Phase Correction Lines

    MotionScout related cases of volunteer studies

    ProMoCo_TFL_20190219
    ProMoCo_TFL_20190625
    ProMoCo_examples_20190503




    Click here to watch the video