Upright Multi-Position Weight-Bearing MRI

Specifications	THE FONAR UPRIGHT® WEIGHT-BEARING MRI (also known as the Stand-Up® MRI)
Unique Applications	Rotates patients from recumbent to upright
	Comparative scans in both Upright and Recumbent positions
	Flexion, Extension, Standing, Sitting and Lateral Bending positions
	Scans patients in their position of symptoms
	Ideal for anxious and claustrophobic patients
	The only choice for patients that cannot lie down

Magnet
Field Strength	0.6 Tesla
Magnet Type	Iron-frame Electromagnet
Cooling System Type	Water (closed-loop); No Cryogens
Field Orientation	Horizontal, transverse to the patient
Configuration	Front-Open and Top-Open
Patient Gap Dimensions	18 inches (46cm) pole-to-pole
Patient Comfort	Upright/Sitting patient faces out and can watch a large flat-screen TV with an unobstructed view


Patient Bed
Positioning Capabilities	Translate, Elevate & Angulate
	Rotates patient from recumbent to upright
Patient Stabilization	Table tilts backward at 7 degrees to reduce patient motion
	Patient immobilization fixtures
	VersaRest™ trans-polar stabilization bars
RF Receiver Coil Placement	RF coils mount easily to movable fixtures
Patient Weight Limit	500 lbs.

Radiofrequency System
Transmitter Configuration	Dedicated, Circularly Polarized, Planar
Receiver Configuration	Dual-channel
RF RECEIVER COILS
Standard Package
Solenoid/Linear	High-Performance Spine & Body Wide Belts (45", 55", 65")
	Flexible Cervical
	Signal-Plus Universal Coils
	Solenoid Wrist
Advanced Coil Package
Planar	Quadrature Planar Coil and fixture
	[Note that the Upright MRI is dramatically different than an Open MRI as if utilizes planar (flat) coils to image the spine, just like a high-field MRI]
Quadrature	Quadrature Head Coil
	Quadrature T-L (Thoracic-Lumbar) Coil
	Quadrature Knee Coil
Phased Array	Shoulder (with Immobilization Fixture)

Computer System
Operating System	Windows 2003 Server
CPU	Dual Intel Quad-Core processors
Memory size, GB	8.0 GB
Online Storage	Three 146 GB disk drives configured in a redundant RAID array with a storage capacity of 290GB
Array processor	Not required
Reconstruction Speed	< 0.1 sec per 256x256 image
Storage media	CD/DVD (5GB)
Connectivity	Dicom 3.0 including Store, Print, Query, Retrieve and Modality Worklist
Console Configuration	Dual-screen 1280x1024 19-inch LCD flat panel monitors with full screen dedicated to image review

Gradient System
Type	Bi-planar self-shielding
Maximum Strength (mT/m)	20
Slew Rate (T/m/s)	33
Minimum Slice Thickness	2.0 mm (2DFT)
	0.8 mm (3DFT)
Minimum Field-of-View	6.0 cm

Imaging Techniques
Pulse Sequences	Spin Echo (SE)
	Multi-echo spin echo (MSE)
	Dual bandwidth Double-echo (DE)
	Fast Spin Echo (FSE)
	Inversion Recovery Spin Echo (IRSE)
	Inversion Recovery FSE (IRFSE): STIR, FLAIR
	Driven Equilibrium FSE (DEFSE)
	Driven Equilibrium IRFSE (DEIRFSE)
	Single-shot FSE (SSFSE)
	Gradient Echo (GRE):
	Fat/Water in phase
	Fat/Water out-of-phase
	Multi-echo GRE (Fat/Water in/out/in phase)
	Gradient Spoiled GRE
	Steady-State GRE:
	RF Spoiled GRE, Steady-State Rephased GRE
	MR Angiography:
	2D-TOF and 3-D-TOF
	Ramped RF

Sequence Controls
Fast Spin Echo	Driven Equilibrium
	Echo Train Length, Echo Offset, Echo Spacing
Gradient Echo	Flip Angle
	Steady-State, RF Spoiling, Rephased
	Magnetization transfer (MT)
	Direction of flow saturation
Scan orientations	Multi-Angle Oblique (MAO™), Dual-Axis Oblique
Preparation Pulses	Presaturation pulses
	Magnetization transfer (MT)
	Frequency Selective Saturation (e.g. fat, water, silicone)
	Diffusion-Weighted (DWI)
Trigger/Timing	Test Bolus
	Breathhold, Fluorscopic
Reconstruction	Fast Fourier Transform (DFT): 2DFT, 3DFT
	Partial (Half) Fourier
	ZIP interpolation
	2-point Dixon, 3-point Dixon for Fat Suppression
Firing Order	Cross-talk minimization
	Interleaved
	Interleaved by Subscan (e.g. breathhold)
	Sequential
Data Acquisition	Rectangular FOV (continuously variable phase sampling ratio)
	Multiple Sub-Scanning
	Centric Phase Encoding
	Flow Compensation, Ramped RF
	Low Bandwidth, Multi-bandwidth
	Continuously Variable Display Matrix
	Swap Frequency and Phase
	Repeat and Replace Slices
	Continuous Scan Mode, Breath-hold Imaging, Kinematic Mode
Prescan Indicators	Relative resolution
	Absolute resolution (frequency and phase)
Post-Processing	MIP with rotate, tumble, pan
	Image enhancement
	Bright Balance™
Display and Analysis	Windowing, ROI, zoom, pan
	Cursors, profiles, derivatives, mean, standard deviation
	Image subtraction
	SNR measurements
	Image Viewing Software (IVS) for referring physiciand to view their patients' scans on a CD