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The official invention of radiography by Wilhelm Roentgen -
The neurosurgeon Walter Dandy performs the first Ventriculographies -
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Walter Dandy developed both PEG and Ventriculography between 1918 and 1919 these were highly invasive brain imaging procedures that involved injecting air as a negative contrast agent and later iodine as a positive contrast agent into the ventricles or sub-arachnoid space via lumbar puncture and then taking x-rays of the patient while moving the contrast media by the only means available.... a device pictured here. -
Performed by the Neurologist Egas Moniz -
This created safer methods for arteriography with positive contrast but still ended up being invasive when injected into the CSF for ventriculography. And still left no recourse for imaging of the actual brain tissue. -
Physicist Gordon Brownell neurosurgeon William Sweet at the Mass General Hospital in the 1950s. Their machine was used to detect brain tumors with sodium iodide.
18 Refinements led to increased sensitivity and multiple detectors. Michael Phelps and Edward Hoffman, assistant professors in the Ter-Pogossian laboratory, in 1975 introduced a PET scanner with hexagonal detectors a ring-shaped PCR-I 1985 and a cylindrical shaped PCR-II detector provided even better resolution and sensitivity. -
At Minnesota Hospital William Oldendorf trained as a resident under A.B. Baker performing Arteriograms and PEG's on patients.
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Oldendorf conceptualized and developed, in his basement, the basis for the future of Computed Tomography, but couldn't convince neurologists or x-ray manufacturers that it was a worthy project. -
By William Oldendorf- Single slice image which became the basis for the later developed Computed Tomography scanners. -
Godfrey Houndsfield, an engineer ran with the concept Oldendorf had patented and created the first functional Computed Tomography scanner. It became commercially available several years later, by EMI (Electric and musical Industries). The first patient scan, which revealed a brain cyst, was performed, at Atkinson Morley Hospital in Wimbledon, England, in collaboration with radiologist James Ambrose. -
Within the year of production, two Computed Tomography scanners became commercially and clinically active in England and saw a great deal of success. Oldendorf Presented polaroids from these scans at the American Society of Neuroimaging and still was unable to raise enough interest in the Neurology community.
-Hounsfield also developed a standardized scale for measuring radiodensity in CT images, known as the Hounsfield unit (HU). -
Although a little slow to catch on in the U.S., the Mayo clinic, and Mass Gen were the first to acquire CT scanners, followed by the Dent institute in Buffalo. A neurologist from Atlanta encouraged his admin to purchase the technology but when the radiology department assured them it was "just a passing fancy" the neurology department ended up raising the funds to purchase it themselves bringing the total number of active scanners in the US to 29 by 1975.
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Raymond Damadian is credited with inventing the first MRI scanner, building the first machine and performing the first full-body scan, however it was not a clear image, and was further perfected for use in brain scanning by Paul Lauterbur and Sir Peter Mansfield -
They was awarded the Nobel prize in medicine for the advancements spurred by X-Ray Computer Assisted Tomography and the Houndsfeild Units, including PET, SPECT, and MR Imaging. -
The clinical application for Positron Emission Tomography of the brain began in the search for a way to observe the function of the brain. Dr. Louis Sokoloff won a Lasker award in 1981 for his work in brain mapping. He was able to obtain data about what areas of the brain responded to stimuli by injecting a tagged radionuclide into monkeys and exhaustively recording the findings, the work was completed in 1979 with the advent of more advanced PET scanning ability. -
While Damadian developed the first scanner, Paul Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield were also crucial to the technology's development and won the Nobel Prize in 2003 for their work on creating clear images from the signals -
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Siemens installed its first clinical MRI machine, and the first commercial Siemens MAGNETOM was put into operation. -
Positive contrast agents such as gadolinium begun to be used for better total imaging in magnetic resonance imaging. Further applications for visualization of blood vessels and neural structures. -
The first successful fMRI results using blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) contrast were obtained by groups at the University of Minnesota and Massachusetts General Hospital, allowing researchers to map brain activity based on blood flow changes. -
The clinical applications of the 3T promised quicker scans and better resolution, although much of standard brain imaging is still done on the 1.5T. Some 60 million MRI scans are performed each year in the present day. -
Awarded to Peter Lauterbur And Paul Mansfeild for their development and continuing work in the field of Magnetic Resonance imaging technology and its contributions to medicine. -
Researchers in the UK started using FMRI to map the brain's response to certain drugs in order to prevent and treat substance use disorder and prevent dangerous pharmaceuticals from entering the market. -
Ultra high resolution 7T MRI scanners used for imaging of patients with Novel Corona virus show damage to the brain stem in the centers for respiratory control, fatigue, and anxiety. Slice counts today can reach as high as high as 128, 256 -
In the US, approximately 93 million CT scans were performed in 2023. Brain CT scans are a crucial, time-sensitive tool for diagnosing acute conditions like stroke and trauma. Recent advancements like deep learning are improving image quality and dose efficiency, though radiation exposure remains a factor to consider. CT shows about 4% more accuracy on average than MRI brain scanning with a 78% accuracy rating to MRI's 74% -
Today fully functional brain mapping is possible by combining aspects of PET, CT and MRI. Continued advancements in both PET/CT and PET-MRI hybrids will improve our understanding of cerebral processes, and may help us to track treatment outcomes and disease-modifying therapies. The combination of understanding physiology and brain metabolism and radiotracer and technological development spurred the current revolution in functional PET cerebral imaging. -
Portnow LH, Vaillancourt DE, Okun MS. The history of cerebral PET scanning: from physiology to cutting-edge technology. Neurology. 2013 Mar 5;80(10):952-6. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e318285c135. Erratum in: Neurology. 2013 Oct 1;81(14):1275. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e3182aa3d3a. PMID: 23460618; PMCID: PMC3653214.
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Beitler, R. (2017, April 8). Functional MRI used to investigate new drugs for drug relapse prevention. Addiction Now. https://www.drugaddictionnow.com/2017/04/08/fmri-investigate-new-drugs-drug-relapse/ Hendee, W. R. (2013). Principles of nuclear medicine imaging: A historical perspective and current state of the art. Seminars in Nuclear Medicine, 43(3), 173–177. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.semnuclmed.2013.02.001
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Arora, V., Sidhu, B. S., Singh, K. (2022). Comparison of computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging in evaluation of skull lesions. Egyptian Journal of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, 53, 67. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43055-022-00745-9
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Kabasawa H. MR Imaging in the 21st Century: Technical Innovation over the First Two Decades. Magn Reson Med Sci. 2022 Mar 1;21(1):71-82. doi: 10.2463/mrms.rev.2021-0011. Epub 2021 Apr 16. PMID: 33867419; PMCID: PMC9199974. Oller, J. L. G. (1962). Axial Encephalography, Contrast Ventriculography and Myelography. Journal of Neurosurgery, 19(2), 173-176. https://doi.org/10.3171/jns.1962.19.2.0173
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DirectMed Imaging. (2020, October 7). The history of the MRI. https://directmedimaging.com/history-of-the-mri/ Kabasawa, H. (2021). MR imaging in the 21st century: Technical innovation over the first two decades. Magnetic Resonance in Medical Sciences, 21(1), 71–82.
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The American Society of Neuroimaging. (n.d.). Timeline of the ASN. https://www.asnweb.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=4148 University of Cambridge. (2024, October 8). Ultra-powered MRI scans show damage to brain’s ‘control centre’ is behind long-lasting COVID-19 symptoms. https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/ultra-powered-mri-scans-show-damage-to-brains-control-centre-is-behind-long-lasting-covid-19