FONAR NEWS! Technique to Detect Breast Cancer Instantly and Accurately,
Technique to Detect Breast Cancer Instantly and Accurately, Under Development
by FONAR
Business/Health & Medical Editors
MELVILLE, NY--(BW HEALTHWIRE)--Dec. 16, 1999--FONAR Corporation
(NASDAQ-FONR), The Open MRI Company(TM), announced plans to develop an
image-guided biopsy procedure that will aid in the early detection of
breast cancer. This state-of-the-art technique will utilize FONAR's
dual-purpose works-in-progress scanners, The Open Sky MRI(TM) and The
OR-360(degree) (TM). These room-size magnets contain both the large
field of view needed for diagnostic purposes and the small field of
view needed for surgical purposes.
"FONAR is developing an image-guided biopsy that can establish
with certainty whether cancer is present in a suspicious lesion
detected by the MRI image," said Raymond Damadian, M.D., president and
founder of FONAR. "The new MRI image-guided procedure will address a
current impediment in breast cancer detection and diagnosis. X-ray
mammography turns up too many false negatives (cancerous lesions
diagnosed as non-cancerous) and MRI turns up too many false positives
(non-cancerous lesions categorized as suspicious by MRI). Both
shortcomings are an impediment to full-scale screening for breast
cancer."
The research can come to fruition, according to Dr. Damadian,
when one or more of its dual-purpose MRI machines, the Open Sky
MRI(TM)/OR-360(degree) (TM), are installed in universities where the
needed clinical research can move forward.
"The potential of the MRI to make meaningful advances in breast
cancer detection is very great because of MRI's ability to generate
soft-tissue contrast, compared with the X-ray's limitation in creating
this contrast," said Dr. Damadian. "The MRI's current tendency to
construe too many false positives in images of the breast is a
manifestation of the fact that the MRI 'sees too much,' making it
difficult for physicians to interpret the findings with confidence
given the present state-of-the-art. The MRI image-guided biopsy
technique and the other imaging technologies under development at
FONAR, should turn this present limitation into a benefit in which the
MRI becomes an extremely sensitive detector of early breast cancer."
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 Dr. Damadian.
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.
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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.
--30--kam/ny*
CONTACT: Daniel Culver, Director of Communications and
David Terry, VP, Secretary
PHONE: 516/694-2929
FAX: 516/390-9540
E-MAIL:investor@fonar.com
KEYWORD: NEW YORK
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: MEDICAL DEVICES BIOTECHNOLOGY PHARMACEUTICAL
PRODUCT
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