Magnetic resonance imaging of astronauts on the international space station and into the solar system

Abstract

The management of weightlessness-induced musculoskeletal deterioration, along with other medical issues, in astronauts on long-term space flights remains a primary problem to be solved before interplanetary travel becomes feasible. Finding ways to prevent or reduce these medical sequelae to acceptable levels by exercise and (or) pharmacological interventions will require intensive in situ imaging of the anatomical and physiological changes that occur in astronauts during space flight. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) instrument located on the International Space Station (ISS) would provide a broad range of detailed physiological information about the progression and status of medical alterations during long duration space flight. Advances in the understanding and treatment of weightlessness- induced musculoskeletal deterioration using MRI will interact with advances in the understanding and treatment of osteoporosis for patients on Earth. In addition to the significant basic research advancements that a space-based MRI would give, future inhabitants of the solar system beyond the Earth will need the medical imaging technology that would be pioneered with an ISS MRI. For example, astronauts who stay on the Moon for more than 30 days will require a ''Level 4'' standard of medical care that includes medical imaging, and the modern standard of care for diagnostic medical imaging in many cases is MRI. We reviewed a number of concepts for an ISS MRI ending with the favoured concept of the ''compact MRI'' that uses recent advances in MRI technology that are currently at the pre-market stage. A consideration of the steps needed to bring the new technology to realization as an ISS MRI showed that it is possible to complete the ISS MRI within the projected lifetime of the ISS. Building the ISS MRI would pave the way for significant new advances in MRI technology, a better understanding of space physiology, and its application both to Earth-bound use and to eventual use on other planetary bodies in the solar system.