New MRI Boasts Unique Magnetic Field Strength

Professor David Lurie has created a MRI that he calls “100 different MRI scanners in one.” The highly sophisticated scanner took 10 years to develop and is now being used to analyze the brains of patients who are recovering from a stroke.

Called the Fast Field-Cycling MRI scanner, the machine’s special power is that its strength can be adjusted during procedures. “This gives an extra dimension to the data collected from each patient, greatly expanding the diagnostic potential,” Lurie told the BBC.

The researchers hope that the new MRI will help physicians make fine-tuned analyses of their patients’ health and come up with specialized treatment plans.

Eighty-one-year-old patient Richard Johnson was one of the first to undergo a scan, and was excited about participating in the machine’s debut. “I am full of admiration for the development and construction of this sophisticated machine, and the aims behind it. I wouldn't have missed this interesting session for the world,” he told the BBC. "I saw one of the early prototype Magnetic Resonance apparatuses around 1964 or 1965 - which is partly why I was so excited to be a guinea pig in, and to be lucky enough to be shown round, the new machine."