Data display in the control room of the new 3 Tesla magnet.
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Growth in Research Imaging
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The Neuroimaging Center welcomed its newest technology in June 2003: a 28,000-pound 3 Tesla (3T) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging
scanner. The MR scanner joins two others that were installed as part of the Neuroimaging Centers construction in 2001. This brings McLean's complement of scanners in the Neuroimaging Center to three, with the new 3T joining a 4T scanner used solely for psychiatric and substance abuse research, and a 1.5T magnet used for both clinical and research scans. A fourth scanner used by basic laboratory researchers to measure the chemical composition of substances in test tubes (called a 300 Megahertz Vertical Small Bore Spectrometer), is also housed at McLean.
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The 2001 expansion of the Neuroimaging Center prior to the 3Ts arrival caused such a rapid growth in imaging research at McLean that instrument use reached capacity almost immediately. Thus, plans for the addition of this third magnet began several years ago.
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The 3T, which is now fully operational, is not the last magnet that will be added to the McLean campus. The Office of National Drug
Control Policy recently announced the awarding of a $3.8-million contract to McLean for the purchase and installation of a 9.4 Tesla small bore research MR scanner, one of the most powerful magnets in the world. Plans are under way for site preparation with planned installation
projected for sometime in 2005. Because the strength of an MR scanner (measured in Tesla or in megahertz) is not unlike the magnification powers of a microscope, this newest technology will allow researchers to probe the underlying causes of neuropsychiatric disorders with even greater resolution than ever before.
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