MRI without claustrophobia

2004/05/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Medikuntza
• Fisika

You can also walk inside and take the images standing or sitting. It generates magnetic fields smaller than conventional devices and has been designed for patients with lung diseases.

A normal scanner takes 30 seconds and the patient must breathe helium through a tube. The researchers found that when breathing a hyperpolarized gas, the large magnetic fields of conventional appliances were unnecessary and more open geometries could be used.

A system with more homogeneous magnetic fields is now being built to investigate lung physiology and use it with respiratory diseases. In the future it could be possible to create portable tools for performing magnetic resonance imaging of small field.