As a gas that is lighter than air, helium can provide buoyancy to the balloon, making balloon float in the air. But in real life, in addition to being used in balloons, helium also has many applications, such as deep-sea diving, low-temperature technology, rocket fuel, and airbags closely related to our lives.
↑ Helium According to Tuchuang Creative
Nowadays, due to the global "helium shortage", the healthcare industry has begun to worry that a poorly known use of helium - magnetic resonance imaging, will be affected. It is reported that the cost of helium has risen by 30%. Among the five helium suppliers in the United States, four have begun to implement quantitative supply of helium, reducing the supply to less important customers, and giving priority to ensuring the use of the medical and health industry.
helium costs have risen by 30%, and global supply is short of
US helium suppliers implement quantitative supply
MRI is the abbreviation for magnetic resonance imaging. Professor Scott, director of the Center for Magnetic Resonance Imaging at the heart of many things in modern medicine. It can help doctors diagnose brain tumors, strokes, spinal cord injuries, liver diseases and cancer, and its role is irreplaceable.
Liquid helium has a boiling point of minus 452 degrees Fahrenheit (about minus 268.9 degrees Celsius), making it the lowest temperature element on the earth. To ensure the normal operation and accurate imaging of the magnetic resonance imaging machine, the superconducting magnet for magnetic resonance imaging needs to maintain extremely low temperatures, and this is where helium comes in - as a coolant pumped inside the magnetic resonance imaging magnet, so that the current propagates without resistance. Therefore, without about 2000 liters of ultra-low temperature liquid helium, the ultra-low temperature required by the magnet cannot be maintained, and the magnetic resonance imaging machine cannot operate normally.
↑In August 2022, a magnetic resonance imaging device at a children's hospital in Germany
What's bad is that helium, as a non-renewable element that exists deep in the earth's crust, is exhausted. "Helium has become a big problem," said Mahesh, a professor of radiology at Johns Hopkins Medical School. Helium has been an unstable commodity for many years. Especially in the United States, Texas federal helium reserves are declining.
Until this year, the United States had been counting on Russia's abundant helium resources to alleviate the helium tension. A huge facility in eastern Russia reportedly could supply one-third of the world's helium, but a fire broke down last January.
Today, four of the top five helium suppliers in the United States are quantitatively supplying helium , and they are reducing the allocation of helium to less important customers, prioritizing the use of the healthcare industry.
reported that major hospitals in the United States have not yet cancelled the magnetic resonance imaging examination programs for patients or shut down their machines. However, the cost of helium is rising at an astonishing rate that doctors can see—even up to 30%. Helium shortage cannot see the end, and the future of magnetic resonance imaging is still unknown.
is affected by the impact of Harvard professor closed half of the project
may promote technological innovation for researchers
It is reported that maintaining a magnetic resonance imaging machine normally requires about 2,000 liters of liquid helium, so suppliers need to continuously replenish its evaporated helium. Mahesh estimates that a magnetic resonance imaging machine requires a total of 10,000 liters of liquid helium during its service life (about 12.8 years). In 2015, there were about 12,000 magnetic resonance imaging machines in the United States, making magnetic resonance imaging one of the world's largest helium consumers , far exceeding the balloon store. By contrast, hanging all tractor-sized balloons during the Macy's Thanksgiving parade consumes about 400,000 cubic feet of helium, converting that helium into liquid helium, keeping only about two MRI machines running over their service life.
General Electric and Siemens are both developing magnetic resonance imaging devices that consume less liquid helium. Siemens recently launched a machine that only requires 0.7 liters of liquid helium, and General Electric, the United States, launched a machine that claims to be "1.4 times more efficient".However, these technologies have not been widely used, and are by no means a quick solution that can replace the country's 12,000 MRI machines. Meanwhile, hospitals are still installing new traditional magnetic resonance imaging machines to meet diagnostic needs.
It is reported that University of Wisconsin plans to open a new cancer center with two MRI machines, but Scott expressed his concerns about insufficient helium supply after installing the machine: "What happens if we installed these machines but lacked helium (supply)?"
It is reported that when helium suppliers began rationing helium this summer, Harvard physicists Jacoby and Philip closed about half of their lab's projects. Additionally, UC Davis reported that one of its helium suppliers cut half of their rations, including medical uses.
"This shortage prompted us to find ways to do the same experiment without liquid helium," Jacoby said. The report said that this forced innovation could change the future of magnetic resonance imaging. By then, helium may no longer be a necessary condition for magnetic resonance imaging.
Red Star News Reporter Wang Yalin Intern Duan Yuqi
Editor Guan Li Peng Jiang
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