X-Message-Number: 3648
From:  (Joseph J. Strout)
Newsgroups: sci.cryonics
Subject: Re: Medical scanners
Date: 9 Jan 1995 00:07:46 GMT
Message-ID: <>
References: <>

In article <>,  (Brent Fox) wrote:

> (NMR)- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
> (SPECT)- Single Photon Emission Tomography
> (SQUID)- ?

NMR is just the original term for MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). 
It was changed because it was felt that the public wouldn't like the 
sound of a "nuclear" instrument.  As you probably know, NMR/MRI works 
by aligning atoms (usually hydrogen) in the body with a steep 
magnetic gradient.  A radio pulse is then applied, and the sample 
emits radio signals in response.  These signals are characteristic of 
the number of atoms present as well as the chemical environment of 
the atoms.  There are variations -- Functional MRI (fMRI) takes 
advantage of the fact that the level of oxygen in the blood affects 
its magnetic properties, enabling researchers to image the amount of 
activity in various areas of the brain.

SQUID stands for Superconducting Quantum Interference Device, but I 
don't have any detailed info on it -- can someone help us?

-- 
Joseph J. Strout                   Dept. of Neuroscience
                   Univ of CA, San Diego
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