New Scanner Improves Diagnoses, Treatments

In January 2007, the University of Rochester Medical Center installed the region's first 3 Tesla magnetic resonance scanner (3T MRI) for clinical use. This important new tool helps physicians improve the accuracy of diagnoses and treatments of broad categories of diseases, including stroke, brain tumors, epilepsy, musculoskeletal, and heart disease.

The 3T MRI is the most powerful scanner available to patients today in routine clinical use, and its images are comparable in clarity to those produced by high-definition television. The new scanner also allows radiologists to perform a new type of imaging called functional MRI, which noninvasively pinpoints areas of the brain that generate specific actions, like speech or movement. This information is critical when planning brain surgery that may affect brain tissue near vital movement or thought areas.