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CLINICAL AND RESEARCH UPDATES

128-channel MRI CollaborationGE Healthcare (Waukesha, WI) and the Mayo Clinic (Rochester,MN) have announced a program for the clinical development ofhigh-field MRI of the body, and Massachusetts General Hospital(MGH of Boston) and Siemens Medical Solutions (Malvern, PA)have developed a prototype 128-channel MRI system based on Tim(Total imaging matrix) technology.

The GE Healthcare collaboration is designed to help realize the fullpotential of 3T MR systems as a diagnostic tool, particularly for theabdomen, heart, breast, and musculoskeletal system. Along with theMayo Clinic's Body MRI Advanced Development Unit, GEHealthcare will develop and apply clinically viable techniques andprotocols for 3T, allowing Mayo's patients to benefit from thepotential to accurately diagnose such conditions as breast andprostate cancer, liver disease, and coronary artery disease.1

The Siemens Medical collaboration involves research and develop-ment of the Magnetom Trio with Tim 3T MRI system. The proto-type of the system is based on 102 coil elements integrated in 32independent radiofrequency (RF) channels. The principles andpotential applications of 128-channel MRI scanning are being eval-uated at MGH, with initial findings showing the potential to exceedcurrent standards of image resolution and parallel imaging, with upto a 25-fold increase in speed. The prototype is designed to be suit-able for clinical and research imaging, especially in cardiology andadvanced neurology, where speed and sensitivity are paramount.2

Interventional MRI CollaborationBiophan Technologies Inc (West Henrietta, NY) has announced astrategic research collaboration between Siemens Medical Solutions’MRI Division (Erlangen, Germany) and Biophan Europe GmbH.The goal is to provide new solutions in interventional MRI andMRI-assisted minimally invasive surgeries. The collaboration is forthe further development and commercialization of potentially complementary MRI technologies, including MR compatible pacemakers. Siemens Medical has developed a new MRI-scanningtechnology with aperture configurations, and Biophan is attemptingto enable effective MRI visualization of implanted medical devices,including heart valves, coronary and peripheral stents, and vena cava filters.3

Strategic Partnership for Function MRINeurognostics Inc (Milwaukee, WI) has signed a strategic partner-ship agreement with Medical Numerics Inc. (Sterling, VA)4 toenhance the company's offering of functional MRI (fMRI) toolsand applications, which is based on Medical Numerics' proprietaryfMRI tool set and Neurognostics' MindState fDPD fMRI applica-tion software.

With fMRI, clinicians can measure brain function, enabling a reallook at the way the brain works. The technology has a number ofpromising clinical applications, specifically in the areas of presurgi-cal brain mapping for assessing neurological risk, early identification

of psychiatric and central nervous system disorders and measure-ment of the effects of therapies in neurodegenerative and neurode-velopmental disorders.5

Hardware-Independent MR The MR Technology Group of NRC-IBD (West) has been workingon an integrated MR console and MR physics simulation system.The system consists of a research MR console with a full-functionhardware-independent pulse programming environment, and a parallel computer cluster running full Bloch equation simulationson a 3D digitally-defined spin phantom. This allows side-by-sidecomparisons of experimental vs. simulated data for any pulsesequence. The simulator employs multiple spins per voxel, whichallows the development of stochastic tissue models and the simulta-neous simulation of multiple physical phenomena. The consolesequencer software executes on a Pentium III running a real-timeoperating system (RTOS). A full pulse sequence library, includingover 40 imaging, spectroscopy and utility sequences, has beenimplemented. The console has been successfully installed on a9.4T/21cm animal MR imaging system in Edmonton.6 In addition,the University of Alberta Hospital, Stollery Children’s Hospital, theUniversity of Alberta Research Center and the Mazankowski HeartInstitute have two Siemens 1.5T clinical MRI, one 1.5T researchMRI, soon to be installed a 1.5T Intra-operative MRI and a dedi-cated 1.5T Cardiac MRI.

Ceiling-mounted MRI Siemens Medical Solutions (Malvern, Pa) and IMRIS Inc.(Winnipeg, MB, Canada) have signed a global original equipmentmanufacturer (OEM) agreement to incorporate IMRIS'siMotion—the company's ceiling-mounted surgical imaging systemsthat are used in neurosurgical, spinal and soft-tissue procedures—into Magnetom Espree MRI Systems (70cm). The testing tookplace mostly in IMRIS's factory in Canada7 with assistance fromSiemens Medical's staff. “The magnet is suspended from the ceilingon an MRI-safe crane. The magnet can then be moved from roomto room,” explained Ed Gunning, marketing manager of cardiacand interventional MRI in the MRI division of Siemens Medical.This ability allows the advanced technology to be present in multi-ple locations. Additionally, the combination of Siemens Medical'sdiagnostic technology and IMRIS's surgical innovations help sur-geons remove diseased tissue more efficiently, reduce damage tohealthy tissue and decrease visits to the operating room (OR) forsubsequent surgeries. IMRIS President David Graves added, “Byoffering a system that can be used in the OR as well as the diagnos-tic-imaging department, a facility can realize a significantlyimproved return on investment”.8

Breast MRI Aurora Imaging Technology offers a dedicated 1.5T breast MRI,featuring a 64cm magnet bore and an enlarged elliptical focal pointthat enables imaging of both breasts, lymph nodes and a segment ofthe chest in a single bilateral scan. Enhancements include: UltraRODEO Plus uses specialized pulse sequences to suppress the visu-alization of fat and normal ductal tissue; AuroraCAD automatically

Compiled by Jonathan W.K. Lee, Ph.D., Lead Instructor, MRI/S Technologist Program, Red River College& Affiliated Scientist, Institute for Biodiagnostics, National Research Council, Winnipeg, MB

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recognizes and compensates for patient motion artifacts and distortions.It also simultaneously displays multiple image views and completesmultiplanar reformats and maximum intensity projections (MIP).9

Upright MRI Fonar has a niche in orthopedic applications, particularly as theyrelate to the spine. The company has over 100 such upright systemsinstalled, mostly in the U.S. Recent efforts are aimed to extend itsuses to various cardiac applications. True Flow Imaging of the car-diovascular system is designed to provide information about the sizeof the right ventricle as an indicator of pulmonary hypertension.The patient would sit during the scan. Those with valvular heartdisease might be better assessed, as they are standing in their normalphysiologic posture. Also benefiting might be patients with myocar-dial ischemia resulting from coronary artery disease, as well as can-didates for angioplasty or bypass surgery being assessed for coronaryblood flow and patients with peripheral venous insufficiency.10

64-slice CT & 3T MRI Scanners Installation in U.S. &CanadaCompanies\Imaging Systems 64-slice CT 3T MRI

General Electric Healthcare (Waukesha, WI) ~600 ~170

Siemens Medical Solutions (Malvern, PA) ~350 ~123

Philips Medical Systems (Andover, MA) ~420 ~62

Toshiba America Medical Systems (Tustin, CA) ~200 -

Total Installations ~1570 ~355

*Numbers are based on vendor information and estimate

Section for MR Technologists The 15th annual meeting of the SMRT11 was held in Seattle,Washington, May 5 -7, 2006: “Soaring to New Heights in MREducation”. Over 300 technologists attended the sessions, enjoyedexcellent presentations and reviewed exceptional posters. The meet-ing began Friday evening with the Poster Walking Tour. The follow-ings were among an impressive lineup of posters presented:

� Cindy Comeau: “Clinical Utility of Time Resolved Imaging inthe Evaluation of Peripheral Vascular Malformations.” (1st Place Clinical Focus Poster Award)

� Michelle Garcia: “Managing Technical Factors AffectingSpectral Quality of Endorectal Prostate MRS at 1.5T” (3rd PlaceClinical Focus Poster Award)

� Christine Mancini: “Quantitative Infarct Sizing in the Presenceof Microvascular Obstruction.” (2nd Place Clinical Focus PosterAward)

� John Posh: “The Role of MRI in the Evaluation of MummifiedHuman Remains Preserved with Arsenic.”

� Susan Ryan: “Chiari Malformations PathophysiologyRedefined Using MRI Based Flow Measurements as TheyRelate to Intracranial Compliance (ICC)” (1st Place ResearchFocus Poster Award)

� Anne Marie Sawyer: “Exit Forms at 1.5T and 3T: HumanExperience in MR Examinations.” (3rd Place Research FocusPoster Award)

� Julie Strandt-Peay: “MR Safety Training – Implementing aProgram in the Research Environment.” (2nd Place ResearchFocus Poster Awards)

� Robin Valentine: “Regional Fat Deposition Assessed by MR:The Effect of Weight Loss.”

� Tse Woon Ng: “The Feasibility and Validity of Using MRI toAssess the Right Ventricular Function.”

As part of its mission to recognize and reward exemplary work bytechnologists worldwide, the SMRT also awards the President’sAward, as well as first, second, third place clinical and research focusawards to the best among the 56 MR abstracts submitted. Winners,as chosen by the Education Committee through a blinded process,were offered 10-20 minutes to present their proffered papers duringthe annual meeting. This year’s top honor, President’s Award, wasgiven to a group of Canadian MR research technologists headed byCaron Murray of Sunnybrook and Women’s College HealthSciences Center for her presentation titled: “Intermittent FatSaturation and K-Space Reordering in Breast MRI”.

The Saturday morning session: “Trends in MR Diffusion Imaging”were given by Mike Moseley, Ph.D., and Adrian Knowles, R.T., toprovide the latest advances in MR diffusion imaging of the brainand the body. After the coffee break, Gina Greenwood,R.T.(R)(MR), B.S., gave her very informative presentation on:“Colorful Communication – the nuts-and-bolts of MRI.” TheSaturday afternoon session started with a 3T Update Forum, fol-lowed by a series of half hour 3T MRI presentations on pediatric,cardiac and body imaging as well as on clinical neuroimaging.

The Sunday morning’s session was moderated by Canadian trainedMRI technologist and manager of the Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology Brain Imaging Center Steven P. Shannon. The breastMR presentations were given by Connie Lehman, M.D. andMichael Coles, R.T. The topics after the coffee break centeredaround the ever-critical important area of MR safety with twoexperts in the field: Dr. Frank Shellock and Dr. Tobias Gilk.

The afternoon session on Sunday was filled with another series ofvery interesting topics presented by MR technologists:� James Stuppino: “Economics, Design & Marketing

Considerations of Your MRI Center” & “MRI Planning forGamma Knife Radiotherapy”.

� Maureen Ainslie: “Imaging for Clinical Trials”.

Then was followed by Dr. Rasmus Birn’s update on the latest infunctional MRI.

The last session of this year’s annual meeting included: � A forum on how MR technologist/radiographers are educated

worldwide with representatives from U.S., Canada, U.K.,Australia and Europe

� MR Primary Pathway Summit Meeting, co-chaired by LuannCulbreth, RT(R)(MR)(QM), M.Ed & Mark Spooner,RT(R)(MR)(CT), B.P.S. of the SMRT Educational StandardsAd-Hoc Committee, with invited guest presentations by:

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� Ginny Hasselhuhn, B.S., R.T.(R), of the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists (ARRT).

� Kevin Powers, Ed.S., R.T.(R)(M), of the American Society for Radiologic Technologists (ASRT).

� Joanne Greathouse, Ed.S., R.T.(R), FASRT, FAERS, of the Joint Review Committee in Radiologic Technology (JRCERT).

� Luann Culbreth, RT(R)(MR)(QM), M.Ed., of the Association of Educators in Radiologic Sciences (AERS) & ARRT.

American Roentgen Ray Society Annual MeetingARRS of Leesburg, VA’s Annual Meeting was held April 30 – May 5in Vancouver, B.C. There were 29 scientific sessions, each featuringsix to 12 abstract presentations. The ARRS awarded three recipientsof the 2006 Gold Medal for Distinguished Service (ARRS’ highesthonor): N. Reed Dunnick, MD, of the University of Michigan inAnn Arbor; Frieda Feldman, MD, of the Columbia UniversityCollege of Physicians and Surgeons in New York; and Britton Chance,PhD, MD (Hon), of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia 12

Dr. Chance, an Olympic gold medalist (Helsinki,1952), is thefather of the field of optical imaging; in addition, his lifetime contributions to the field of MR were recognized in 1988 as GoldMedalist by the Society of magnetic Resonance in Medicine (USA)and again in 2005 when Dr. Chance delivered the LauterburEndowed Lecture at the Annual Meeting of the InternationalSociety for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.13 His current researchinterests include cancer detection, cognitive imaging, skeletal mus-cle function, cardiac myopathy and cancer heterogeneity, all investi-gated using MR and optical spectroscopy and imaging.14

Technological advances fueled many interesting research presentationsat ARRS Annual Meeting. The followings are some of the highlights:� Common Interventional Radiology Procedures Can be

Performed at Lower Dose. Safe and effective interventionalradiology procedures are possible even when the radiation doseis reduced by as much as 88 percent, according to Dr. BrianLucey of the Boston University Medical Center. Analyzing CT-guided biopsy, needle aspiration, or catheter placement proce-dures conducted on 291 patients, his team of researchers foundit possible to accurately perform such image-guided interven-tional procedures even with slightly “muddy” images. To perform the procedure successfully, clinicians began with a verylow dose, increasing it until the procedure is feasible.

� Lower Doses for Abdominal CT of Children Don’t ImpactImage Quality. Dr. Soroosh Mahboubi of the Children'sHospital of Philadelphia found that abdominal CT radiationdose can be reduced by 60% without compromising imagequality. When reviewing abdominal scans from 74 children,Dr. Mahboubi’s group found that, on average, modulating thetube current to account for body symmetry reduced the radia-tion dose by 15% over the usual weight-adjusted dose.

� Latest CT Technology Improves Diagnosis in EmergencyDepartment (ED). Dr. Craig Barnes and radiologists atBrenner Children's Hospital (Winston-Salem, NC) are using64-slice CT and both 2D and 3D images to assess and treattrauma patients in the hospital's ED. Employing 2D or 3Dimaging makes it easier to locate any ruptures and define the

full extent of injuries, providing surgeons with the informationthey need when deciding whether or not to operate.

� PET/CT Better at Detecting Ovarian Cancer than PET or CTAlone. Dr. Sunit Sebastian of the Massachusetts GeneralHospital (Boston) reviewed 54 body CT, PET, and PET/CTexaminations on 53 patients with ovarian cancer who werebeing evaluated for tumor recurrence and discovered thatPET/CT’s accuracy (49/53, 92%) was higher than either CT(44/53, 83%) or PET alone (41/53, 77%).

� High-Powered MRI Compares with Arthroscopy for ShoulderInjuries. Dr. Thomas Magee from the Neuroskeletal ImagingInstitute (Merritt Island, FL) reviewed the shoulder MRIsobtained with a 3T magnet of 100 consecutive patients anddiscovered MRI had a high correlation with what is found atsurgery. His study demonstrates that diagnosing tears can bedone satisfactorily without arthroscopy, sparing many patientsfrom surgery.

� MR Cystography Potential Screening Exam for Ureteral Reflux.The Changi General Hospital in Singapore and the Universityof California, San Francisco, teamed forces to take a closer lookat patients with VUR detected by conventional x-ray cystogra-phy who also underwent MR cystography. According to Dr.Hui-Seong’s study, the two methods were concordant for 80%of the ureters and the remaining 20% was split, with MR cys-tography detecting VUR in one ureter and x-ray cystographydetecting it in the other.

� Noninvasive Staging of Fibrosis Possible with CombinedContrast-Enhanced MRI. A study conducted at the Universityof California, San Diego, found that accurate noninvasive stag-ing of liver fibrosis in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)was possible with combined contrast-enhanced (CCE) MRI.Dr. Claude Sirlin’s team used two contrast agents with comple-mentary mechanisms—iron particles to darken the back-ground liver and gadolinium to brighten the fibrosis—anddeemed the procedure repeatable and possibly more accuratethan any other noninvasive method for assessing liver fibrosis.

Diffusion Tensor MRI (DTI) Showed Reorganization ofBrain White Matter in the Recovery after 19 years in aMinimally Conscious StateJ. Clin. Invest. 2006;116:2005-2011 reported the results of DTIand PET scans and the follow-up 18 months later of an unconsciousman who recovered language and motor function, after almost twodecades in a coma. DTI is capable of characterizing specific whitematter pathologies such as atrophy and diffuse axonal injury. Thepreferential diffusion of water in myelinated white matter locallycoincides with the direction of white matter fiber bundles in thebrain. At initial evaluation, the patient already had regained limitedmovement and speech, DTI indicated fractional anisotropy andincreased fiber directionality in the medial, parietal, occipital(MPO) areas, which correlated well with an increase in glucosemetabolism as measured by FDG-PET. According to the lead bio-medical research team at Cornell University in the multicenter, mul-tidisciplinary study: “The initial spike in anisotropy was a transi-tional stage of an ongoing axonal sprouting process. Once the newfiber connections were made, axons thinned out by sproutingtoward other targets.” Between the first and second PET and DTI

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scans, researchers observed a 20-50% increase in glucose uptake inthe MPO areas, which might reflect the neuronal regrowth;improved directionality in the white matter fibers, especially in theinferior part of the cerebellar vermis of the patient paralleling hisclinical recovery showing markedly improved motor function andlikely very soon followed by cognitive improvement.

IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical ImagingThe IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging washeld in Washington, D.C. April 6-9, 2006.15 The general imagingmeeting included oral and poster sessions on MRI as well as CT,ultrasound, PET and MEG. Some excellent plenary sessions included:those from Dr. Rakesh Jain of Harvard Medical School on“Molecular, Cellular, Anatomical and Functional Imaging ofTumors In Vivo: From Bench to Bedside and Back” and Dr. PeterHunter of the University of Auckland, New Zealand, on“Computation Physiology and the Physiome Project” which werevery interesting.

Dr. Jain summarized his 30 years of research in the field of tumorresearch. He presented the paradox of the increased effectiveness of combined anti-angiogenesis drugs with chemotherapy (the antio-angiogenesis drug supposedly kills blood vessels, but thechemotherapy needs vessels in order for the drug to reach thetumor). His hypothesis was that antiogenesis drugs actually “normalize” blood flow to the tumors instead of killing all vessels,thus explaining the increased effectiveness of chemotherapy.

Another highlight was a special session on open source image analysissoftware, an initiative by the National Alliance for Medical ImagingComputing.16

Biomedical OpticsThe Optical Society of America's Biomedical Optics TopicalMeeting was held March 19-22, 2006. The conference was focusedon optical imaging modalities, including diffuse optical tomography,molecular imaging, confocal techniques and optical coherencemethods. By far, the meeting was concentrated on diffuse opticaltopographic of breasts as an adjunct alternative to x-ray mammog-raphy for breast cancer screening. Several large research groups andcompanies are actively developing this area. Advanced ResearchTechnologies (ART), a Canadian company, is currently collectingclinical breast tomography data with their custom tomography system.Other applications include cerebral tomography of prematureneonates to detect intra-cranial hemorrhages, which are a commonclinical problem in this population, and imaging of small animalmodels for use in drug discovery. Several companies are currentlymarketing small animal imaging systems using fluorescence ofendogenous chromophores and exogenous labeled biomarkers, nearinfrared, life-time fluorescence, time of flight for optical density andx-ray to assist companies in drug discovery using small animal models.Molecular, confocal, and low coherence imaging sessions focused ondrug discovery application using small animal models, sub-cellularmeasurements and modeling of tissue optical properties of scatter-ing and absorption.17

Dentistry of the FutureShining a laser around in one’s mouth as part of a routine dentalexamination to find and monitor potential tooth decay sites couldbe a thing of the future in the dental clinic and the central theme ofa recent article: “Detection of early dental caries using polarizedRaman spectroscopy” published in Optics Express,18 based onresearch by scientists at NRC-IBD along with dental collaboratorsfrom the University of Manitoba and Dalhousie University. Whileconventional dental x-rays are not sensitive enough to see surfacecaries lesions at their earliest stages, this study demonstrated thatpolarized Raman spectroscopy is able to detect minor structuralchanges at the molecular level caused by tooth demineralization.The strength of polarized Raman spectroscopy not only lies with itsbiochemical specificity but also its sensitivity toward structural difference such as molecular alignment and degree of crystallinity,thus providing useful information for characterizing diseased tissuestructure. In the case of dental caries detection, polarizationanisotropy derived from the polarized Raman spectra of sound andcarious teeth showed substantial differences; therefore it can be usedas a quantitative measure to assess the extent of tooth demineralization.This parameter is not only useful for dentists to formulate treatmentplans for their patients but will also enable them to monitor theprogress of dental fluoride treatment. Such information is not cur-rently available to dentists through existing dental diagnostic tools.The plan is to couple polarized Raman spectroscopy with opticalcoherence tomography (OCT) into a common diagnostic device.

First in the World!Cardiac surgeons and cardiologists at the St. Paul’s Hospital inVancouver, recently performed the world’s first minimally invasive“beating heart” aortic valve-replacement surgery. The elderly patientwould not have been able to endure open-heart surgery, the tradi-tional method of replacing heart valves. Most importantly, this minimally invasive aortic valve implantation was able to improvethe health of a patient who had no other options. Traditional heartvalve replacement surgery usually requires a long chest incision toenable surgeons to expose the heart, which is then temporarilystopped while the valve is replaced and sutured into place. A heartlung bypass machine is required to keep the patient’s blood circulatinguntil heart function is restored. Instead, with this approach, sur-geons used a special valve that folds to the diameter of a pencil andis inserted through a 5cm incision between two ribs. Guided bymoving x-ray and echocardiography, the team inserted the valvethrough the base of the patient’s heart. When in place, the valve wasunfolded, pushing the existing valve tissue aside. These procedureswill be offered on compassionate grounds to patients who are toofrail to survive open-heart valve replacement surgery. Later, theycould be available to patients for whom open-heart surgery is possi-ble but considered high risk. A manuscript describing the tech-nique, “Transapical Aortic Valve Implantation in Man” by Dr. JohnG. Webb, et. al. has recently been published in the Journal ofThoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.19

Cardiovascular MRThe Annual Meeting of the Society for Cardiovascular MagneticResonance (SCMR), was held January 20-22, 2006 in Miami,Florida, at the Doral Golf Resort - home of the PGA's FordChampionship and “The Blue Monster”.20 The conference focused

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on clinical cardiac MR imaging/spectroscopy, discussing existingand new methods used in a typical cardiac exam, including dynamicCINE and tagged MRI, rest and stress function and perfusion, lateenhancement of gadolinium contrast, as well as angiography andflow exams. There were some interesting contrast and molecularMRI talks, as well as modality comparisons between MR andCT/SPECT/PET and their advantages and disadvantages. Two ofthe best presentations were given by Hajime Sakuma (MieUniversity, Japan) on MRA of coronaries and by Daniel Berman(Cedars Sinai Medical Center, USA) on CT of coronaries. Therewas consensus that the late enhancement technique is by far the bestmethod of diagnosing myocarditis, and seems to be a favorite of allcardiologists. There was also agreement that coronary MRI andangiography is where more research effort is required as this still lagsbehind what CT can do in this area. If MR of coronaries couldmatch the diagnostic capabilities of CT, then MR would be a one-stop shop for clinical cardiac assessment.

Open Access to Products of Health ResearchThe Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is developingan ‘open access’ policy. CIHR is initiating a process to develop aresearch policy that will promote access to the knowledge andresources generated from CIHR-funded research. Currently, CIHRencourages recipients of research support to make the results of allresearch publicly available. CIHR’s aim is to establish a policy thatwill both help researchers gain access to the products of research andsupport CIHR's efforts in facilitating the translation and use ofknowledge, while taking into account ethical and legal considera-tions. Furthermore, as a recipient of public funds there is an obliga-tion to Canadians to ensure that the results and products of researchsupported by CIHR are disseminated as widely as possible so thatall parties benefit from these research outcomes.21

MedEffect: Canada Offers Database of Adverse DrugReactionsThis database can be used to access information concerning suspectedadverse reactions to Canadian marketed health products of pharma-ceuticals, biologics (including blood products and therapeutic anddiagnostic vaccines), natural health products, and radiopharmaceu-ticals, as reported to Health Canada through voluntary and manda-tory reporting measures. Information on this website includes datasubmitted from 1965 to June 2005.22

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author would like to thank Dr. Britton Chance for his manygracious remarks and encouragement years ago as it’s also my honourto have Dr. Chance23 (biography in the Appendix) as my Universityof British Columbia PhD thesis external examiner, as well as theentire NRC-IBD team and RRC MRI/S Program graduates for providing much of the information for this update, Renee Lien andAnthony Lee for proofreading the manuscript.

APPENDIX

Dunnick, Feldman, and Chance named 2006 ARRS Gold MedalistsThe ARRS has announced the recipients of the 2006 Gold Medalfor Distinguished Service. They are N. Reed Dunnick, MD, of theUniversity of Michigan in Ann Arbor; Frieda Feldman, MD, of theColumbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in NewYork; and Britton Chance, PhD, MD (Hon), of the University ofPennsylvania in Philadelphia. The ARRS Gold Medal is the society’shighest honor. The awards will be presented during the 2006 ARRSAnnual Meeting in Vancouver, BC, Canada on May 3.12

Dr. Britton Chance Dr. Chance is Eldridge Reeves Johnson University ProfessorEmeritus of Biophysics, Physical Chemistry, and Radiologic Physics atthe University of Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. from theUniversity of Pennsylvania and his D.Sc. from Cambridge University.

He has a multitude of scientific and engineering accomplishmentsto his name, ranging from the development of the stopped-flowmethod for observing rapid biological reactions to pioneeringresearch into cell bioenergetics, including the formation of enzyme-substrate compounds.24-25 Dr. Chance and colleagues obtained thefirst nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra from excised and insitu heart, brain and liver in 1977-1978, and the first NMR spectrafrom exercised human limb in 1980.

His lifetime contributions to the field of NMR were recognized in2005 when Dr. Chance delivered the Lauterbur endowed lecture atthe annual meeting of the International Society for MagneticResonance in Medicine.

He has received more than 50 awards and honors, including theNational Medal of Science, the College of Physicians Gold Medalfor Distinguished Service to Medicine and the National Institutes ofHealth Christopher Columbus Discovery Award in Biomedical Research.

Dr. Chance is the father of the field of optical imaging. His currentresearch interests include cancer detection, cognitive imaging, skeletalmuscle function, cardiac myopathy and cancer heterogeneity.26

In 2005, Dr. Chance and colleagues published the results of a six-year, two-population study of a handheld, noninvasive breastcancer detector using near infrared technology that achieved a sensitivity/specificity (ROC) of 94.6%.

Dr. Chance has published more than 1,400 refereed papers and givenmore than 750 conference presentations. He holds 10 honorarydegrees, including an MD from the Karolinska Institutet (home ofthe Nobel Prize Committee for Physiology or Medicine). He isfounder and president of Non-Invasive Technology, Inc.

Dr. Chance’s avocation is sailing. Even when he was just a teenager,he invented an autosteering device that detected deviations in aship's course and generated a feedback signal to redirect the ship'ssteering mechanisms. He has won numerous championships,including the Olympic Gold Medal at Helsinki in 1952, as a memberof the U.S. yacht Olympic team.

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2. Siemens and Massachusetts General Hospital Develop Prototype 128-channel MRI System Based on Tim Technology. Available at:http://www.medical.siemens.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/PressReleaseView?catalogId=-1&catTree=100005,13839,17709&langId=-1&pageId=74338&storeId=10001 Accessed: August 16, 2006.

3. Biophan and Siemens AG Announce a Declaration of Intent for StrategicCollaboration on Advanced Interventional MRI Technology. Biophan-Europe to Enter into Negotiations for a Joint R&D Agreement withSiemens Medical Solutions MRI Division. Available at: http://www.bio-phan.com/pr/2006/03/033006Siemens.html Accessed: August 16, 2006.

4. About Medical Numerics. Available at: http://www.medicalnumerics.comAccessed: August 16, 2006.

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11. Soaring to New Heights in MR Education. Available at:http://www.ismrm.org/smrt/06/ Accessed: August 16, 2006.

12. ARRS Memo – Winter 2006. Available at: http://www.arrs.org/scriptcon-tent/newsletter/index.cfm Accessed: August 16, 2006.

13. International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. Available:http://www.ismrm.org Accessed: August 16, 2006.

14. Chance of a Lifetime – Britton Chance’s Research has Transformed theField of Biomedical Optics. Available at: http://oemagazine.com/fromTheMagazine/apr01/spie_chance.html Accessed: August 16, 2006.

15. 2006 IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging: From NanoTo Macro. Available at: http://www.biomedicalimaging.org/2006/Accessed: August 16, 2006.

16. National Alliance for Medical Image Computing. Available at:http://www.na-mic.org Accessed: August 16, 2006.

17. Biomedical Optics Topical Meeting and Tabletop Exhibit. Available at:http://www.osa.org/meetings/topicals/biomed/ Accessed: August 16, 2006.

18. Ko ACT, Choo-Smith LP, Hewko M and Sowa MG. Detection of EarlyDental Caries Using Polarized Raman Spectroscopy. Optics Express2006;14(1):203-215. Available at: http://www.opticsexpress.org/ViewMedia.cfm?id=86900&seq=0 Accessed: August 16, 2006.

19. Webb JG, et. al. Transapical Aortic Valve Implantation in Man. Journal ofThoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery 1006;131:1194-1196.

20. Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Ninth Annual ScientificSessions. Available at: http://www.scmr.org/meetings/scmr2006.shtmlAccessed: August 16, 2006.

21. CIHR Policy in Development – Access to Products of Research. Availableat: http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/30818.html Accessed: August 16, 2006.

22. Canadian Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring Program (CADRMP)Online Query and Data Extract Updated to Include First Quarter 2006Data (1965 - 03/2006) Available at: http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/medeff/databasdon/index_e.html Accessed: August 16, 2006.

23. Institute for Corean-American Studies: Britton Chance Biographic Sketch.Available at: http://www.icasinc.org/bios/chance.html Accessed: August 16, 2006.

24. Kresge N, Simoni RD and Hill RL. Britton Chance: Olympian andDeveloper of Stop-Flow Methods. J. Biol. Chem. 2004;279(50):109-111.Available at: http://www.jbc.org/cgi/content/full/279/50/e10?max-toshow=& Accessed: August 16, 2006.

25. Chance B. The Stopped-flow Method and Chemical Intermediates inEnzyme Reactions – a Personal Essay. Photosynthesis Research2004;80:387-400. Available at: http://www.life.uiuc.edu/govindjee/history/Chance2004.pdf Accessed: August 16, 2006.

26. Chance B, Nioka S and Chen Y. Shinning New Light on Brain Function.Near-IR Systems Offer Handheld and Even Non-contact Methods forMonitoring Brain Functions Like Problem Solving. Spie’s Oemagazine,July, 2003;16-20. Available at: http://oemagazine.com/fromThemagazine/jul03/brain.html Accessed: August 16, 2006.