|
| ||||||
| UTHSC-H Home | People Directory | Maps | Calendar | University A - Z | Webmail | |
| | ||||||
| Dr. Ponnada Narayana, professor and director, Magnetic Resonance Research, Department of Radiology, again is open for business with his new 2,400 square foot MRI Center on the Medical School’s ground floor. | ||
| This time around, three flood gates have been installed to protect equipment and personnel. The center has been operational since June. | ||
| It presently consists of a small electronics laboratory, a biochemistry laboratory, a small conference area, a temporary animal holding facility, in addition to a Bruker MRI scanner for small animal studies. | ||
| The scanner — weighing approximately 17,000 pounds–operates at a 7 Tesla magnetic field. | ||
| The magnet uses superconducting coils, cooled with liquid helium, at approximately -270 degrees and rests on a custom-built platform to reduce vibration. | ||
| It’s in a room of its own, sitting inside a six-sided shell made out of copper. | ||
| The copper shield reduces noise from TV and FM radio signals from the outside that might interfere with the scanner’s performance. | ||
| The floor was drilled through to the basement so that the magnet’s weight can be evenly distributed across four gigantic steel-reinforced columns. | ||
| This scanner was built to replace the original Bruker MRI scanner, housed in the medical school’s basement, that was irreparably damaged during Tropical Storm Allison (see Scoop 1/31/2003). | ||
| MRI scanners have the capacity to image very small anatomic structures with high resolution and great detection sensitivity. | ||
| “We design techniques to look at the physiology and biochemistry of live animals to help us ascertain tissue pathology,” Narayana said. | ||
| One of Narayana’s research projects at the center is to track cortical reorganization in spinal cord injured animals. “It will help us to see noninvasively how the spinal cord and the brain interact,” Narayana said. | ||
| Colleagues at the Medical School are interested in the results of Narayana’s research. Neurosurgeon Dr. Guy Clifton, chairman of Neurosurgery, and his associates plan to examine and noninvasively follow the evolution and evaluation of both traumatic brain injury and traumatic spinal injury and assess treatment effects. | ||
| Dr. Jerry Wolinsky, the Bartels Family Professor of Neurology, and his colleagues are very interested in using the scanner to study animal models of multiple sclerosis and other neurological impairments, said Narayana. | ||
| Is MS mediated by immune dysregulation of T cells? Is axonal loss the cause of irreversible disability in MS, independent of inflammation? “This scanner will be helpful in determining answers to questions such as these. The beauty of this testing is that it is non-invasive and the same animal can be studied over time,” Narayana said. | ||
| There are, in addition, plans for a 3 Tesla whole body MRI scanner. Approximately 2,400 square feet of self-contained space has been set aside for the 3 Tesla. | ||
| This unit will be able to scan people, as well as primates. It will have a higher magnetic field than the current scanner and the more commonly used 1.5 Tesla scanners. | ||
| The higher magnetic field will improve the quality of the images captured. “The earth has a magnetic field of 0.5 Gauss; this scanner will have a magnetic field of 30,000 Gauss by comparison,” Narayana said. | ||
| “Also, we have considered children’s aversion to a whole body scanner. To them it feels like being in a tunnel. So we have included in the design plans a mock scanner that they can go through and get used to before the real thing. This has worked quite successfully in other centers that have similar setups.” | ||
| PDF Format | ||
Colleen
O' Brien, Editor |
||
| Dr. Narayana's Faculty Page | ||
| Dr. Narayana's Web Site | ||
