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:

From FONAR Corporation;
in October of 2004, the company changed the product name of the Stand-Up™ MRI to the Upright™ MRI. The Indomitable™, Upright™ MRI is the only open MRI in the world that can perform positional MRI (pMRI), i.e. the Upright MRI™ scans patients in upright, weight-bearing positions, in addition to the conventional lie-down positions. The Upright™ MRI is the only device that can scan patients in the position their symptoms occur, in their position of pain. In early clinical reports independently confirm the effectiveness and potential of positional MRI. In October 2000, Fonar received permission to market the Indomitable™ from the FDA.

A type of magnet that utilizes coils of wire, typically wound on an iron core, so that as current flows through the coil it becomes magnetized. The direction of the magnetic field is parallel to the long axis of the coil. Whole body electromagnets, used in medical imaging (also called resistive) are limited to their field strength, because the weight becomes prohibitively large at high field MRI. The magnetic field shuts down, if the current is switched of. Because this type of magnet generates heat, a good cooling system is essential.
For a stronger magnetic field, the wires must be manufactured of superconducting materials to reduce the power needed to produce the field.

See also Resistive Magnet, Superconducting Magnet and Upright™ MRI

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the spine is a noninvasive procedure to evaluate different types of tissue, including the spinal cord, vertebral disks and spaces between the vertebrae through which the nerves travel, as well as distinguish healthy tissue from diseased tissue.
The cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine MRI should be scanned in individual sections. The scan protocol parameter like e.g. the field of view (FOV), slice thickness and matrix are usually different for cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine MRI, but the method is similar. The standard views in the basic spinal MRI scan to create detailed slices (cross sections) are sagittal T1 weighted and T2 weighted images over the whole body part, and transverse (e.g. multi angle oblique) over the region of interest with different pulse sequences according to the result of the sagittal slices. Additional views or different types of pulse sequences like fat suppression, fluid attenuation inversion recovery (FLAIR) or diffusion weighted imaging are created dependent on the indication.

Indications:

Contrast enhanced MRI techniques delineate infections vs. malignancies, show a syrinx cavity and support to differentiate the postoperative conditions. After surgery for disk disease, significant fibrosis can occur in the spine. This scarring can mimic residual disk herniation. Magnetic resonance myelography evaluates spinal stenosis and various intervertebral discs can be imaged with multi angle oblique techniques. Cine series can be used to show true range of motion studies of parts of the spine. Advanced open MRI devices are developed to perform positional scans in the position of pain or symptom (e.g. Upright™ MRI formerly Stand-Up MRI).

MRI hardware includes the electrical and mechanical components of a scanning device.
The main hardware components for the MRI machine are:
The magnet establishing the B0 field to align the spins.
Within the magnet are the gradient coils for producing variations in B0 in the X, Y, and Z directions to make a localization of the received data possible.
Within the gradient coil or directly on the object being imaged is the radio frequency (RF) coil. This RF coil is used to establish the B1 magnetic field necessary to excite the spinning nuclei. The RF coil also detects the signal emitted from the spins within the object being imaged.
The RF amplifier increases the power of the pulses.
The analog to digital converter converts the received analog raw data into digital values.
Depending on the design of the device and the body part being imaged the patient is positioned inside the magnet (e.g. on a movable table or standing upright).
The MRI scan room is surrounded by a RF shield (Faraday cage).
In addition, a computer console, a display, and a film printer belong to the MRI equipment.

See also the related poll result: 'Most outages of your scanning system are caused by failure of'