From ISOL Technology

'MRI system is not an expensive equipment anymore. ENCORE developed by ISOL Technology is a low cost MRI system with the advantages like of the 1.0T MRI scanner. Developed specially for the overseas market, the ENCORE is gaining popularity in the domestic market by medium sized hospitals.
Due to the optimum RF and Gradient application technology. ENCORE enables to obtain high resolution imaging and 2D/3D Angio images which was only possible in high field MR systems.'
- Less consumption of the helium gas due to the ultra-lightweight magnet specially designed and manufactured for ISOL. - Cost efficiency MR system due to air cooling type (equivalent to permanent magnetic). - Patient processing speed of less than 20 minutes.'

The company is a leading manufacturer and developer of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners. The Patient Friendly MRI Company, formed in 1978, is engaged in the business of inventing, manufacturing, selling and servicing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners. FONAR is the oldest MRI company in the world. After receiving hundreds of millions in a windfall from protecting their MRI patents, they made a MRI scanner that no other MRI manufacturer has. One that the patient stands in and they call Indomitable, the Stand-Up MRI. Patients like it because it is the least claustrophobic, most comfortable MRI on the market. Doctors like it because of its superior image quality and for the first time, the patient can be scanned in the weight-bearing position, or the position of pain or symptom. In October of 2004, the company changed the product name of the Stand-Up MRI to the Upright MRI. Fonar introduced the first "open" MRI scanner in 1980 and is the originator of the iron-core nonsuperconductive and permanent magnet technology.

MRI Scanners:

- 0.6T:

(FRFSE, FR-FSE) The fast relaxation fast spin echo sequence provides high signal intensity of fluids even with short repetition times, and can be used with parallel imaging techniques for short breath hold imaging or respiratory gating for free-breathing, high isotropic resolution MR imaging. After signal decay at the end of the echo train, a negative 90° pulse align spins with long T2 from the transverse plane to the longitudinal plane, leading to a much faster recovery of tissues with long T2 time to the equilibrium and thus better contrast between tissues with long and short T2.
Fast relaxation FSE has advantages also for volumetric imaging as the TR can be substantially reduced and thus the scan time. The sequence can be post processed with maximum intensity projection, surface or volume rendering algorithms to visualize anatomical details in brain or spine MRI. Cerebro spinal fluid pulsation artifacts, often problematic in the cervical or thoracic spine may be reduced by radial sampling, in particular when combined with acquisitions of the PROPELLER type.

See also Fast spin echo, Driven Equilibrium.

The use of MR spectroscopy for acquiring functional activation of the brain.
There are two possible approaches:
In the first, localized spectra of brain water are acquired and subtle changes in these spectra reflect the biophysical water environment. Changes in T2 due to deoxyhaemoglobin concentration may be detected in this way. The disadvantages of poor spatial resolution are to some extent offset by the high signal to noise ratio SNR of the spectroscopic data.
An alternative approach is to use MR spectroscopy directly to detect metabolites that are altered by brain activation. These include lactate and glucose. Such experiments have inherently poor spatial and temporal resolution, but do give a direct indication of the metabolic response of the brain to functional activation.

Short name: Gd-BOPTA, generic name: Gadobenate dimeglumine
A paramagnetic MRI contrast agent (small molecular weight Gd-chelate) with 0.5 and 0.25 molar concentration.
The albumin-mediated relaxation enhancement may result in advantages for Gd-BOPTA over Gd-DTPA and other gadolinium agents in poorly vascularized, small, or lesions with low enhancement and in tumors with high concentrations of albumin. The substance is excreted partly by the kidneys (75-90%), partly by the biliary system (10-25%). The uptake in the liver is about 5% in humans. It is bolus injectable.

See Contrast Agents and MultiHance®.