Nature: The world's strongest MRI machines are pushing human imaging to new limits

Nature: The world's strongest MRI machines are pushing human imaging to new limits

Researchers look to scanners with 10.5-tesla magnets and beyond for unprecedented detail about the brain.
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Scans done with 7-T machines have also revealed more about the symptoms and progression of multiple sclerosis. New medications for the disease have helped to slow the advance of motor deficits, and the ensuing gain in patients’ life expectancy and quality of life has meant that cognitive problems have been noticed for the first time. “A lot of these people have what they might describe as [attention deficit hyperactivity disorder]-like symptoms,” says Menon. “We’ve never understood how that could be until now.” Using a 7-T scanner, Menon’s group has been able to spot lesions in areas where they previously had not been observed, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, an area responsible for executive function and attention. “Historically, those were quite hard to see,” he says. These lesions might explain why the patients develop cognitive symptoms.

 

Likewise, I'm fairly certain my Dyson vacuum cleaner will provide unprecedented, detailed cleaning for my study's rug.

It seems like just yesterday that T-3 would prove everything for us.

 

Always good to hear new technology is making some things easier to see.

 

Is it?

Maybe it's just being from the US that, these days, I am more wary of potential hyperbole.

 

This is very interesting.
I would love to be tested from it since my MRI showed multiple abnormalities.

But i wonder at what point MRI could have effects on the human body, X-rays use radiation that can increase rick of cancer and other side effects, traditionally MRI has been considered benign but i wonder if thats absolute or a matter of strength. Of course there is a risk/reward calculation and in this case the reward is probably very worth the risk but i would like to better understand if there is a risk and what its magnitude is.

Edit: Just read the article, i'm glad i'm not the only person thinking about this

 

Yes of course it is, better tools open up more possibilities. Doesn’t mean they will cure cancer with it.

The question for me is more about who will be able to afford access to one for research.

 

Great! Now can ask all the wrong questions and get nonsense answers at a much finer level of resolution than ever before!

No, to be fair. It's good to have precise tools. It's just were such toddlers at the research, feels like giving a two year old a microscope! One day maybe we'll prove ourselves worthy of this fine technology.

 

The resolution is still too low to see the false illness beliefs and observe the conversion of emotion-signals into physical-symptom-signals.