Fonar Corp (FONR)

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NBC NEWS Coverage of The Fonar Stand-up MRI...
http://www.wnbc.com/health/2302994/detail.html
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'Standing' MRI May Be Better For Patients, Doctors

Machine Can Help Patient Simulate Position That Gives Most Pain

POSTED: 4:15 p.m. EDT June 30, 2003
UPDATED: 2:16 p.m. EDT July 1, 2003

NEW YORK -- Maybe your back hurts when you're standing or sitting. But when you go to get a magnetic resonance imaging scan, the technicians make you lie down.
However, many patients are frustrated when their scan fails to show the cause of their pain. If you change the patient's position, the image may be significantly different.
"The patient [may be] be lying down and will have a perfectly aligned spine and then, standup and you'll have a subluxation -- and nobody knows it," said Dr. Raymond Damadian, the original MRI inventor.

The new technique is called positional imaging. Patients can bend forward and backward at their waists, so they can simulate the positions that give them the most pain. Some doctors believe the standing MRI detects about 30 percent more problems. One spine surgeon says standing MRI images change what kind of surgery he does on his patients about one-third of the time.
Even the doctor who invented MRI scans is convinced standing MRI will become standard care.
"We're excited about this technology because it's a new dimension in MRI," Damadian said. "We think eventually all MRI machines will have to be like this."
Each standing MRI scanner costs about $1.5 million -- so it will take centers some time to make the switch.

For more information on the Stand-Up MRI see:
http://www.uprightmri.com
http://www.fonar.com

To date, Fonar has sold 48 Stand-Up MRIs and completed 20 installations.