M.D. News – South of Boston Edition
Tiron Pechet, MD
The technology behind magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has certainly come a long way. Consider the fact that in 1977, the first MRI machine was homemade, built using 30 miles of niobium titanium wire wrapped around a cylinder. Named the “Indomitable” by its inventor, Dr. Raymond Damadian, it took five hours to complete a chest scan.
In the 30 years that have passed since that first chest scan, MRI has undergone remarkable technological advances in both the quality and complexity of imaging.
But traditional, or “closed” MRI machines presented problems for atypical patients. With a weight limit of 300 pounds coupled with design limitations, bariatric patients could not be accommodated in the machine. Claustrophobic patients, too, who make up between 1% and 5% of all MRI patients, simply could not tolerate the closed environment.
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