Hyperfine, Inc., a Guilford health technology company, has announced results from the PRIME study showing that portable MRI reduced time to brain imaging by a median of more than six hours in emergency department settings, with findings presented at the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine 2026 Annual Meeting.

PRIME, a single-center, prospective, randomized controlled trial, enrolled 100 participants at a tertiary emergency department and compared standard clinical workflow using conventional MRI against a care pathway incorporating Hyperfine's portable MRI system at the patient's bedside. The study evaluated portable MRI's potential effectiveness in supporting triage decisions across a range of brain-related emergency conditions.

Median time from imaging order to scan start was 1.28 hours in the portable MRI group, compared with 7.76 hours in the conventional MRI control arm, a median difference of 6.35 hours. Among completed scans, 18.6% revealed critical pathology, including acute ischemic stroke, mass lesions, mass effect, and hydrocephalus, all detected by portable MRI and confirmed on conventional MRI.

"These findings suggest that portable MRI can be integrated into emergency department workflow far more quickly than conventional MRI and can provide clinically meaningful information when time matters most," said Dr. Charles Wira, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Yale University. "By bringing advanced imaging to the bedside, portable MRI has the potential to improve diagnostic efficiency, reduce delays, and support faster treatment decisions for patients with neurological emergencies."

The PRIME study was conducted using the Hyperfine Model 2 Swoop® portable MRI system, which is FDA-cleared for brain imaging of patients of all ages and is designed to deliver imaging at multiple points of professional care. The trial adds to a growing body of evidence supporting portable MRI as an adjunct to emergency neuroimaging in settings where access to conventional MRI remains limited.

"Enrollment in PRIME was very fast, signaling how frequently MRI is needed as a triage tool in the ED. The presentation of these data at SAEM represents an important milestone for Hyperfine and for the future of emergency neuroimaging," said Maria Sainz, President and CEO of Hyperfine. "We believe these results reinforce the potential for portable MRI to help clinicians access actionable imaging information sooner, improve emergency department workflows for ruling in and ruling out pathology, and expand access to advanced brain imaging where conventional MRI remains difficult to obtain."