FONAR Corporation (NASDAQ:FONR), The Inventor of MR Scanning™,
celebrates the 40th anniversary of the world’s first MRI
picture, by FONAR’s founder, Raymond V. Damadian, M.D., and his
team, on his human-size MRI machine, thereby birthing what has
grown into a multi-billion-dollar industry. FONAR also celebrates
the very positive impact of being included, as of June 26, in the
Russell 3000® Indexes annual reconstitution, which has increased
the Company’s membership in related index funds and ETFs (Exchange
Traded Funds) to over 60, allowing mutual funds, institutions, and
the investing community greater visibility of FONAR and helping to
build shareholder value.
Raymond V. Damadian, M.D., chairman and founder
of FONAR, together with his two post-graduate assistants, Lawrence
Minkoff, Ph.D. and Michael Goldsmith, Ph.D., began construction of
the first human-sized magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, in
January of 1976, at their research lab in SUNY Downstate Medical
Center, Brooklyn, NY. This first scanner, named Indomitable, is now
at the Smithsonian Institution.
After many years of research, Dr. Damadian’s
moment of truth began late on July 2, 1977 when his graduate
student, Lawrence Minkoff, Ph.D., entered Indomitable. The
whole-body scan of Dr. Minkoff’s chest was completed at 4:45 A.M.
on July 3, 1977.
See photograph of Dr. Lawrence Minkoff sitting
in Indomitable (July 3, 1977) for the acquisition of the first-ever
MRI of a human being (4:45 AM)
here: http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c5b22fce-4d43-4a4d-94a8-455b2c1cad14
MR scanning was proposed for the first time in
the paper "Tumor Detection by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance" (Science,
March 19, 1971). That paper reported that there are dramatic
differences in the characteristic NMR (MRI) parameters, known as T1
and T2, between healthy and cancerous tissues, as well as between
the healthy tissues themselves. It is precisely these differences
that provide the exceptional anatomic contrast (pixel contrast) of
the medical images generated by today's MRI scanners.
In February 1974, U.S. Patent #3,789,832 (filed
March 17, 1972), “Apparatus and Method for Detecting Cancer in
Tissue,” was granted. It was the world's first description of an
apparatus and method for scanning the human body by MRI. It
was the first of 4,552 patents for MRI (as of 2/21/13) issued by
the United States Patent Office. It introduced the T1 and T2 tissue
relaxation differences reported in Science that provided the
anatomic detail of the body's critical soft tissue
VITAL organs (brain, kidney, heart, liver, muscle,
intestine) that had been missing from medical images (x-ray images)
for more than a century. These T1 and T2 tissue relaxation
differences discovered by Dr. Damadian became the foundation of
nearly all of the images produced by today's MRI scanners.
The Company was successful with this patent in its litigation
with General Electric that culminated in 1997 resulting in GE
paying approximately $46.4 million for FONAR's cancer detection
patent and an additional $82.3 million for its multi-angle oblique
imaging patent.
Dr. Damadian said, “What I am most grateful for
is that the MRI scanner is now found throughout the world, with
over 20,000 installed world-wide and over 60 million MRI
examinations being performed each year. I am sincerely
grateful for the blessing that has enabled me to help so many
people.”
Timothy R. Damadian, President and CEO of FONAR
said, “I remember being at an Independence Day family gathering the
day my father and his team had finally achieved what they had been
so diligently working on – the first MRI picture. I was just 13
years old then. I remember my family and I being very happy and
proud of him, but, frankly, I had no sense whatsoever of the
importance of that event. Having said that, I’m not sure there were
many people, if any, back then who recognized his achievement as a
medical game-changer, aside from my father, that is. He went on to
build FONAR and launched an industry that has helped countless
numbers of people the world over. I remain proud of him and am
grateful for the opportunity to be part of his adventure.”
About FONAR
FONAR, The Inventor of MR Scanning™, located in
Melville, NY, was incorporated in 1978 and is the first, oldest and
most experienced MRI company in the industry. FONAR introduced the
world's first commercial MRI in 1980, and went public in 1981.
FONAR's signature product is the FONAR UPRIGHT® Multi-Position™ MRI
(also known as the STAND-UP® MRI), the only whole-body MRI that
performs Position™ imaging (pMRI™) and scans patients in numerous
weight-bearing positions, i.e. standing, sitting, in flexion and
extension, as well as in the conventional lie-down position. The
FONAR UPRIGHT® MRI often detects patient problems that other MRI
scanners cannot because they are lie-down and "weightless-only"
scanners. The patient-friendly UPRIGHT® MRI has a near-zero
claustrophobic rejection rate by patients. Regarding patient
comfort, as one FONAR customer stated, "If the patient is
claustrophobic in this scanner, they'll be claustrophobic in my
parking lot." Approximately 85% of patients are scanned sitting
while watching TV.
FONAR has new works-in-progress technology for
visualizing and quantifying the flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)
which circulates throughout the brain and vertebral column at the
rate of 32 quarts per day. This imaging and quantifying of the
dynamics of this vital life-sustaining physiology of the body’s
neurologic system has been made possible first by FONAR’s
introduction of the MRI and now by this latest works-in-progress
method for quantifying CSF flow in all the normal positions of the
body, particularly in its upright flow against gravity. Patients
with whiplash or other neck injuries as well as patients with
childhood autism, Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease,
Amyotrophic Lateral Scherosis (Lou Gehrig's disease), Parkinson's
disease and dementia are among those who FONAR believes are likely
to benefit from this new understanding of CSF flow physiology.
FONAR’s substantial list of patents includes
recent patents for its technology enabling full weight-bearing MRI
imaging of all the gravity sensitive regions of the human anatomy,
especially the brain, extremities and spine. FONAR’s UPRIGHT®
Multi-Position™ MRI is the only scanner licensed under these
patents.
UPRIGHT® and STAND-UP® are registered trademarks
and The Inventor of MR Scanning™, Full Range of Motion™,
Multi-Position™, Upright Radiology™, The Proof is in the Picture™,
True Flow™, pMRI™, Spondylography™, Dynamic™, Spondylometry™, CSP™,
and Landscape™, are trademarks of FONAR Corporation.
This release may include forward-looking
statements from the company that may or may not materialize.
Additional information on factors that could potentially affect the
company's financial results may be found in the company's filings
with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Contact: Daniel Culver
Director of Communications
E-mail: investor@fonar.com
www.fonar.com
The Inventor of MR Scanning™
An ISO 9001 Company
Melville, New York 11747
Phone: (631) 694-2929
Fax: (631) 390-1772
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