The Upright™ MRI

Reading an article over at Newsday about Fonar Corporation’s struggle to compete in the MRI market, we’ve realized that there is another interesting product the company makes: the Upright™ MRI, called around here “a no-rat-hole scanner”. (See our previous coverage of Fonar 360°™: A Room-Size MR Scanner).

The revolutionary design of FONAR’s Upright™ MRI allows patients to simply walk in and be scanned. The Upright™ MRI allows all parts of the body, particularly the spine and joints, to be imaged in the weight bearing state. The system is equipped with our unique MRI-compatible motorized patient handling system that will move the patient into the magnet and place the anatomy of interest into the center of the magnet gap. It also can rotate the vertically-oriented patient into a horizontal position so the patient can be scanned lying down as in conventional MRI scanning.
Distinctive Benefits Include:
— The only true Open MRI
— Proven 0.6 Tesla performance
— Scan patients lying down
— Scan patients in flexion, extension, rotation and lateral bending
— Scan patients in a sitting position
— Position MRI™ (pMRI™)
— Scan patients in their position of pain
— Scan cardiovascular patients upright in their position of symptoms
— Scan patients with cerebrovascular insufficiency in the upright position of symptoms
— Patient convenience: walk in, sit or stand during the scan and walk out
— An unprecedented degree of patient comfort due to the unobstructed view of the scanner room from inside the magnet. There is nothing in front of the patient’s face

We doubt there is a TV in the MRI room. At a minimum the TV will not work. And possibly, it will even fly: 0.6 Tesla magnets might be strong enough to lift and launch TVs across rooms.
The product page…
Flashback: The Raw Power of 1.5 Tesla