Busy Florida MRI Center Upgrades to the FONAR QUAD 12000.

Business & Health Editors

MELVILLE, N.Y.--(BW HealthWire)--Jan. 18, 2000

FONAR Corporation (NASDAQ-FONR), The Open MRI Company(TM), announced that the Deerfield MRI Center, located in Deerfield Beach, Florida, is upgrading its existing FONAR equipment to the FONAR QUAD(TM) 12000 scanner. The installation will begin in approximately four weeks.

"Our center is located in a highly competitive marketplace and referring physicians expect my scanner to perform state-of-the-art imaging techniques," said Virgo Carrilho, site director of Deerfield MRI. "We are a busy center, conducting about 200 scans per month. We must be able to process patients quickly so we don't lose business to the center down the street. Of course, the QUAD(TM) 12000's high-throughput capabilities also increase per-day revenues."

The QUAD(TM) 12000's .6 Tesla platform provides a unique combination of speed, resolution and patient comfort that is not available from any other MRI scanner. The scanner combines high-quality images and advanced imaging methods with unprecedented spaciousness, quiet and patient comfort. The QUAD(TM) offers the full range of state-of-the-art MRI features and is currently being developed for MR mammography.

"We have noticed an increase in patients requesting open MRIs," said Mr. Carrilho. "With this increased awareness, many patients are no longer willing to suffer in the claustrophobic and noisy 'tunnel' MRIs. Now is a prime time to upgrade our open MRI equipment and seize the competitive advantage." Deerfield MRI is managed by Health Management Corporation of America (HMCA), a subsidiary of FONAR.

"The upgrading of Deerfield MRI's equipment is the first of many," according to Timothy Damadian, president of HMCA. "Our two dozen diagnostic facilities, located primarily in New York and Florida, require the highest state-of-the-art technology available in order to maintain their competitive edge. We fully expect this site to become even more successful than it has been."

In 1980, FONAR introduced the world's first commercial MRI whole-body scanner. The widespread application of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in medicine and biology today is the direct result of the landmark discoveries and early pioneering work of Raymond Damadian, M.D., president and founder of FONAR. His seminal discoveries of the variations in soft body tissue relaxation times, as well as the cancer detecting NMR signal, are the means used by all MRI scanners to detect cancer and distinguish healthy versus diseased tissues. A 1997 U.S. Supreme Court ruling affirmed that Dr. Damadian's patented discoveries are fundamental to every MRI unit in the marketplace today.

Be sure to visit FONAR's Web site for Company product and investor information. www.fonar.com

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.