Benefits of AI-Powered MRI Reconstruction software SwiftMR® for patients with infectious disease

At INMI Lazzaro Spallanzani, Italy's national reference centre for infectious disease, SwiftMR cut scan times by an average of 33% across six protocols without replacing the hospital's legacy GE Signa Voyager 1.5T. Shorter exams meant less motion artefact and less sedation in unstable isolation patients, and recovered up to an hour of isolation-room downtime per airborne case.

Presented by Dr. Miriana Petrera at the ECR 2026 Satellite Symposium

Department of Radiology, INMI Lazzaro Spallanzani, Rome

Dr. Petrera is a radiologist in the Department of Radiology at INMI Lazzaro Spallanzani in Rome, Italy's national reference centre for infectious disease. Her work centres on MRI for acutely ill, often highly contagious patients, where imaging must be both fast and diagnostically reliable.

INMI Lazzaro Spallanzani: Italy's national reference centre for infectious disease

Based in Rome, INMI Lazzaro Spallanzani is Italy's national reference centre for infectious disease. Its radiology department works on the front line of complex, highly contagious, time-dependent cases, where MRI has to deliver a precise diagnosis quickly and under strict infection-control constraints.

MRI remains indispensable here. Its high soft-tissue contrast distinguishes a focal collection that needs drainage from simple inflammation or oedema, and it can detect bone-marrow oedema in osteomyelitis or spondylodiscitis days or even weeks before CT does. That same precision is decisive in neurological infection, where meningeal involvement, brain oedema, and abscess must be assessed fast to start prompt therapy.

INMI Lazzaro Spallanzani is in Rome.

Three challenges shape every infectious-disease MRI

In infectious disease, MRI is often the decisive, time-critical test for CNS infections, musculoskeletal emergencies, and sepsis of unknown origin. That is what makes the three challenges below so consequential.

What SwiftMR offered: High image quality in less time

Without changing the scanner, the department deployed SwiftMR, AIRS Medical's AI-powered MRI reconstruction software, on its GE Signa Voyager 1.5T. It enhances the existing output through three pillars:

In practice, that meant a 30–50% shorter examination, with better patient tolerance and less need for sedation. Measured across the department's routine protocols:

Clinical cases

Dr. Petrera walked through four cases from the department, each showing where a faster, cleaner scan changed what the team could see.

Spondylodiscitis and paravertebral abscess

Axial T1 post-contrast at L4, 1:50 min. SwiftMR on the right.

HIV-positive, acute pelvic pain

Sagittal pelvis. SwiftMR (right) defines the endometriosis plaque at the posterior vaginal fornix (red circle).

Suspected herpetic meningoencephalitis

FLAIR, 3:40 min. Sharper and less noisy with SwiftMR (right).

Sepsis of unknown origin

Axial T1 post-contrast, 1:30 min, ultra-fast. The red arrow marks the smaller anterior abscess (SwiftMR, right).

More comparisons

The anterolisthesis of L2 on L3 and the disc protrusion stay easy to assess despite the shorter scan time.

SwiftMR recovers the detail used to assess spinal stability.

Clearer definition of the uterine layers and the endometriosis plaque (red arrow).

Sharper depiction of the haemorrhagic foci in the right temporal lobe.

Conclusions

“SwiftMR is a clinical enabler for our unstable patients who cannot tolerate long examinations. It also lets us obtain high-quality images in the shortest time possible, which means buying back the time we use for the disinfection procedures our infection-control protocols require.”

Dr. Miriana Petrera, MD RadiologistINMI Lazzaro Spallanzani, Rome

Want faster, cleaner MRI for your toughest cases?

SwiftMR improves image quality and cuts scan times on the scanner you already run, easing motion artefacts and the logistical load of strict infection control. Contact us to see what it can do at your centre.

SwiftMR® is a CE-marked medical device under the EU Medical Device Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2017/745): an AI-powered MRI image enhancement solution for noise reduction and increased image sharpness on MRI images in DICOM format. Supported body parts, pulse sequences, field strengths, patient populations, and MRI manufacturers may vary by country.

Results shown reflect the experience of INMI Lazzaro Spallanzani on a GE Signa Voyager 1.5T system, as presented at the ECR 2026 Satellite Symposium. Outcomes vary by scanner model, field strength, pulse sequence, clinical protocol, and operational baseline; individual practices should not expect identical results.

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© 2026 AIRS Medical Inc. SwiftMR® is a registered trademark of AIRS Medical Inc.