July 31, 2025 —Hyperfine, Inc. has announced the enrollment of the first patients in the PRIME (Portable Rapid Imaging for Medical Emergencies) study. This study aims to evaluate the potential of AI-powered portable MRI technology to transform triage in the emergency department (ED) setting.
The PRIME study at Yale School of Medicine builds on the ACTION PMR study, which demonstrated the utility of AI-powered portable MRI in the diagnosis and management of stroke patients in emergency department settings. Expanding the scope of patients studied, the PRIME study will include a broad and diverse set of patients presenting in an emergency department and assess the technology’s potential effectiveness and efficiency as a triage tool for a wide range of brain-related emergency medical conditions. Unlike ACTION PMR, the PRIME study is being conducted using the recently released next-generation Swoop system powered by Optive AI software. PRIME will be one of the first studies using the new software’s advanced image quality that provides sharper anatomical detail, thus potentially enabling greater pathology detection.
Hyperfine’s portable MRI technology has established its value in healthcare institutions, providing high-quality brain imaging at the bedside for critically ill adult and pediatric patients. Timely access to MRI in emergency department settings is still a challenge for many hospitals. Prolonged patient boarding in EDs has been cited as the top priority for hospital leaders, as evidenced in the December 2024 article in Becker’s Hospital Review1. By removing the traditional barriers associated with access to conventional MRI scanners—such as wait times, shortage of dedicated MRI technologists, cost, and immobility — portable MR imaging enables faster, more efficient decision-making in emergency department settings.
The PRIME study will enroll patients in a Level 1 emergency department, assessing a broad spectrum of emergency medical conditions. “By evaluating the potential of portable MRI in this real-world setting, this study aims to determine if a portable MRI system can provide diagnostic imaging capabilities that can be quickly integrated into the ED workflow to improve patient care decisions in real time,” said Dr. Kevin Sheth, Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery at the Yale School of Medicine and principal investigator for the PRIME study, who is working in close collaboration with his co-PI Dr. Adam De Havenon.
“Given many EDs don’t have ready access to MRI, this study could alter paradigms of advanced imaging access and utilization in the ED,” said Dr. Charles Wira, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Yale University. “The Hyperfine portable MRI system could immediately provide ED clinicians and consulting physicians with critical imaging data at the point of care, helping them to make more informed, faster decisions when every second counts.”
“Hyperfine is thrilled to collaborate with Yale on this transformative project. The Yale team has worked with portable brain MRI since the technology’s early days,” said Maria Sainz, President and CEO of Hyperfine. “Through the PRIME study, they demonstrate a bold vision for how portable MRI can accelerate triage in emergency care. The next-generation Swoop system, powered by Optive AI software, provides more clinically valuable image quality that we expect will drive greater adoption in the emergency setting and help address the widespread clinical and economic challenges of ED boarding.”
Hyperfine is committed to advancing the role of portable MRI in emergency care of the brain, one of the sites of care where access to conventional MRI is challenging. The PRIME study represents a strategic initiative within the broader Hyperfine hospital market strategy to drive commercial growth, demonstrating how the placement of portable MRI systems in emergency departments can unlock timely diagnostic access and improve clinical workflows at the point of care.
For more information, please visit HyperfineMRI.com.
1. ED boarding: 10 things to know. Becker’s Hospital Review. www.beckershospitalreview.com/care-coordination/ed-boarding-10-things-to-know.html. Published January 25, 2024. Accessed July 25, 2025.
January 28, 2026 
