FONAR To Attend RSNA, World's Largest Radiology Conference.

Doctors F.W. Smith and J.P. Elsig to be Keynote Speakers at Exhibit; RSNA Message: Position Imaging is Here to Stay - Don't Miss The Future of MRI 

CHICAGO -- FONAR Corporation (NASDAQ:FONR), The Inventor of MR Scanning[TM], announced today, that it is attending the 2006 Radiological Society of America (RSNA, Booth #7722), from November 26-30, 2006. Francis W. Smith, M.D., a radiologist with the Positional MRI Centre, University of Aberdeen, and Jean Pierre Elsig, M.D., a spine surgeon with FMRI Zentrum, Zurich, Switzerland are the keynote speakers for the medical meeting which is expected to have 60,000 attendees.

A press conference will be held at the RSNA at 9:30 AM, Monday, November 27, on a scientific paper submitted by Dr. Smith and his colleague, Waseem Bashir, M.D. titled 'Aching Back? Sitting Up Straight Could Be the Culprit'. The study was done using the FONAR Upright[TM] Multi-Position[TM] MRI. For details visit: http://www.rsna.org/Media/rsna/newsroom2006.cfm

"The BEST IMAGE is the one that DOES NOT MISS the pathology," is the recurring theme that Doctors Smith and Elsig will emphasize.

Raymond Damadian, M.D., president and founder of FONAR said, "Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse asked 19th century citizens of east coast cities, 'Will you continue to use gas lights when electric lights are available?' Today, FONAR asks America's medical marketplace, 'Will you continue to use STATIC, single-position-only recumbent MRI when DYNAMIC Upright, Multi-Position MRI is available at the same cost and image quality?' DYNAMIC Position Imaging is here to stay" said Dr. Damadian. "Don't miss the future of MRI."

FONAR is the winner of the Frost & Sullivan 20206 American Medical Imaging Innovation Award. Visit: www.fonar.com/news/112006.htm. To see the award visit: www.fonar.com/news/pdf/frost&sullivan-award.pdf. "We are proud of FONAR being chosen as Frost & Sullivan's 2006 winner for medical imaging innovation", said Dr. Damadian. "FONAR is in the process, by means of its Upright[TM] Multi-Position[TM] MRI of ushering in a new revolution in medical imaging. We are calling it DYNAMIC MRI. DYNAMIC MRI which FONAR has made possible with its new Upright[TM] Multi-Position[TM] MRI product allows the physician to get beyond the traditional limitations of today's STATIC single-position-only recumbent MRI machines which have no capability of assessing the functional impairment to a body part caused by injury or disease. They cannot see the body part in action performing and carrying out its normal life function which the FONAR Upright[TM] Multi-Position[TM] MRI can do. They cannot assess the degree of impairment of that body part under its normal weight load while it is in the multiple positions typical of normal daily activity (e.g. flexion, extension, lateral bending, rotation, etc.). DYNAMIC MRI which FONAR has made possible by its product, The FONAR Upright[TM] Multi-Position[TM] MRI, allows the physician to get beyond the traditional limitations of today's STATIC single-position-only recumbent MRI machines which have no capability to assess spine FUNCTION. Unlike the FONAR Upright[TM] product, in the conventional single-position-only recumbent MRI the patient lies horizontally in one position with his weight-load removed from his spine. The MRI pictures obtained are taken in this single weight-unloaded position. By being limited to solely provide pictures of the weight-unloaded spine, today's conventional STATIC single-position-only recumbent MRI machines are NON-PHYSIOLOGIC in that they lack the ability to visualize the human spine in its most critical role. They cannot picture the spine performing its primary PHYSIOLOGIC FUNCTION of supporting the weight of the human body in its entirety while it occupies the multiplicity of different positions the human body occupies as it carries out, fully erect, its numerous functions."

"In contrast, the FONAR Upright[TM] Multi-Position[TM] MRI accomplishes genuine PHYSIOLOGICAL imaging of the human spine with the spine carrying its normal weight load. In doing so, the FONAR Upright[TM] Multi-Position[TM] MRI accomplishes a full-fledged DYNAMIC assessment of the human spine in its full range of motion which in turn is key to any surgical spine correction aimed at the concurrent elimination of pain and the reestablishment of function."

"Most importantly, fundamental to any imaging of the spine and potential surgical correction is the preeminent need to achieve successful CORRELATION of the MRI image findings WITH THE PATIENT'S SYMPTOMS."

"The fundamental characteristic of spine medicine is the reality that the human spine is a structure that relentlessly and progressively degenerates with age. Consequently, any aging spine (60 years and above) is typically abundant with degenerative pathological changes at multiple spinal levels all of which become candidates for the source of the patient's pain, but only a few of which, and commonly even only one of which, is specifically the cause," said Dr. Damadian.

"Failure to successfully correlate the anatomic finding with the patient's pain, i.e. to correctly identify the spinal level and exact spinal encroachment causing the pain, can lead to corrective surgery at the wrong level with failure to correct the patient's pain and the additional prospect of making the patient's condition worse by surgery at the wrong level."

"To avoid such pitfalls and optimize the prospect of identifying with precision the specific lesion responsible for the patient's pain, PHYSIOLOGICAL imaging with the spine fully weight-loaded represents the key to achieving a full DYNAMIC assessment of the spine in its full range of motion, where the anatomic defect responsible for the pain can be CORRELATED WITH THE PATIENT'S SYMPTOMS.

"Only in this way can all of the spine motions the patient identifies as provoking his pain be tested with MR images to identify the specific lesion (among multiple) giving rise to his pain so that the exact source of the patient's symptoms can be identified and successfully repaired, a burden that is clearly beyond the scope of the typical STATIC weight-unloaded single-position-only recumbent MRI."

"And there is more. We are developing for future intraoperative MRI, the FONAR 360[TM] MRI. The first of its kind has been installed at Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (NOC), an Oxford University teaching hospital."

"The FONAR 360[TM] is a room-size MRI, that will commence clinical trials shortly to develop image-guided surgical procedures, known as intraoperative MR imaging. The FONAR 360[TM], unlike any other MR imaging system, is a magnet the doctors can walk inside of. The patient is positioned on a surgical table that is placed immediately on top of one of the two magnet poles of the MR unit. This design maximizes access to the surgical regions in need of intraoperative repair wherein the entire surgical team and all medical personnel have full 360 degree access to the patient. No other MRI provides this capability," said Dr. Damadian.

For a picture of the FONAR 360[TM] at NOC, visit www.fonar.com/news/112706.htm