FONAR Sells New Stand-Up MRI Customer Sees Scanner's Weight-Bearing Capability as Formidable
Competitive Advantage
MELVILLE, N.Y.--(BW HealthWire)--April 30, 2001--FONAR Corporation (NASDAQ-FONR), The
Patient-Friendly(TM) MRI Company, confirmed today the sale of its Stand-Up MRI(TM) scanner, Indomitable(TM). The
new scanner is the only FDA cleared-for-marketing, whole-body MRI scanner that can automatically position patients in any
position. Indomitable(TM), therefore, is unique by its ability to perform positional MRI(TM) (pMRI)
which permits the patient to be scanned in the full range of conventional lie-down MRI positions, in all upright, weight-bearing
positions, as well as in any additional postures that the patient reports causes pain or other symptoms. The scanner was
purchased by a non-related radiology group in the
Southeast. The group made the down payment and will soon be breaking ground for the construction
of a building to house the scanner. FONAR expects the site to be a regional showcase for FONAR
technology.
Mr. Sol Ginzburg, FONAR's vice president of sales, gave the reasons why the group chose
Indomitable(TM). "This group of radiologists receives a substantial number of referrals from
practitioners with patients under their care for pain management, including specialists in neurology, orthopedics, chiropractic,
and physical medicine. The Stand-Up MRI(TM) can scan patients in the normal upright, weight-bearing postures, allowing
them to evaluate these patients in their positions of symptoms. They've always wanted to view anatomical structures, primarily
spines and joints, in the very positions in which the patients experience pain, but couldn't with any other imaging modality. Now
they can and nobody else can, giving them a competitive edge that cannot be overcome by any other MRI on the market. They
expect that personal injury attorneys will definitely prefer their clients to be scanned on the Stand-Up." The quality of MRI
images and speed of scanning is largely related to the strength of the scanner's magnetic field. The Stand-Up MRI(TM)
operates at 0.6 Tesla, making it one of the most powerful Open MRI's on the market.
Ginzburg continued, "If radiologists are limited to looking for problems with patients lying down, as is the case with every other
MRI, patients with pain that manifests itself only when the patients are in weight-bearing positions could be insufficiently
diagnosed. The Stand-Up MRI(TM) can avoid that possibility."
On August 2, 2000, General Electric Medical Systems and FONAR announced an agreement
whereby General Electric will sell FONAR's Stand-Up MRI.
The Company's other products include the Echo(TM), a compact MRI designed to sell at a low
price; the QUAD(TM)12000, a four-post, 0.6 Tesla Open MRI; and the FONAR 360(TM), available in its "open sky"
configuration for diagnostic purposes and, in the future, in its "interventional 360" configuration for MRI-guided interventions. Its
works-in-progress scanners include the Pinnacle(TM), a high-field Open MRI with superconducting magnet technology, and
the mpExtremity(TM), a small, in-office MRI that scans extremities (arms, knees, wrists, etc.) in multiple, weight-bearing
positions. |
