World’s most powerful MRI scanner delivers its first images - of the inside of a pumpkin

 

The world’s most powerful MRI scanner, which could have profound implications in diagnosing neurological diseases, has delivered its first images - of a pumpkin.

Called "Iseult," the machine is the fruit of more than 20 years of research and partnership between the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and German manufacturer Siemens-Healthineers.

The machine will make it possible "to study the brain structure in a finer way," according to Cécile Lerman, engineer and project manager behind the new MRI scanner.

Why images of a pumpkin and not a human brain?

"It [the pumpkin] has the same diameter as the brain, an interesting, complex internal structure, with grains and fibrous parts - and then it’s the right season," Lerman said.

Before getting the green light from the health authorities for the examination of volunteer human subjects, the machine will first require months of careful adjustment and final tests of its instruments.

Source Euronews