One incredible invention in the field of science and
medicine during the 70’s was the magnetic resonance imaging scanner (also known
as the MRI). The MRI gave doctors and “inside look” without even having to
perform surgery, harmful dyes, or x-rays. It was truly a wonderful invention
that helped doctors and even patients get the results in a more safe and
evidentially clear way. MRI is based on a discovery made by Felix Bloch and
Edward Purcell, called nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). NMR is concept of
magnetic fields and radio waves causing atoms to give off tiny radio signals.
This phenomenon became the first dimension of spatial orientation and the
foundation of the MRI. In 1970, a medical doctor and research scientist by the
name of Raymond Damadian discovered the basis for using NMR as a tool for
medical diagnosis. In his discoveries he found that cancerous tissue emits
response signals that last much longer than non cancerous tissues. With this
idea in mind he continued on the path of wanting to create this “tool” that
could read the body by magnetic and radio waves.
In 1974, Dr. Damadian took his idea
to the U.S patent Office with the name of, “Apparatus and Method for Detecting
Cancer in Tissue.” He was granted a patent and it became the worlds first
patent of the MRI. After working on the scanner for 3 years Damadian finally
had a complete product, which he dubbed the “Indomitable.” As one can see Dr.
Damadian was very confident in his invention, and rightfully so as it was a
huge step for the world of science and medicine. One was now able to see
clearly the whole human anatomy of a person. However, July 3, 1977 proved to be
the real test day on whether it would work and work right. Dr. Damadian would
be the first to get into the machine and try it out, since there were no other
volunteers. After getting in he realized something terrible, it would not work.
One of Damadians colleagues suggested though that he might be too big for the
scanner. So, instead a svelte graduate student agreed to try it. This day would
go down in history as the first day the “Indomitable” MRI scanner successfully
worked. The process took almost five hours only to produce one image, but it
was truly a great time for medicine technology. The MRI has been widely
successful since then; a report says that by 2002 around 60 million MRI scans
have been completed.
I had no idea the MRI was invented in the 70s! For some reason, I always imagined it being invented in the 80s or 90s because it seems like such a new invention and innovation. That must have been a terrifying moment when the machine wouldn't work. Can you imagine creating something so important and it wouldn't work the first time you tried it? I would be devastated. It's amazing that it was created around 40 years ago and today there has been over 60 million scans using the MRI machines. Hopefully this machine has helped countless people and has improved the world of medicine forever. It will be interesting to see what is invented in the future for medicinal purposes.
ReplyDeleteThe concept of NMR is truly interesting, and I am glad Dr. Damadian was able to work with it to make the MRI. Like Edward, I too thought that the MRI was invented not too long ago. Anyway, I wonder how they (Dr. Damadian and his colleagues) convinced the thinner graduate student to try it, since there had been no volunteers previously. I am not surprised at how long it took for that one image since it was a very new technology, but for me five hours seem like an eternity in this fast paced world we live in nowadays. By the way, I found it funny how drastically he changed the name of the invention through its different stages.
ReplyDeleteI was also unaware that this invention was developed in the 1970’s. I am so grateful for this invention because it has saved millions of lives. Detecting things such as cancerous tumors have given opportunity for immediate operation to remove the tumor. Even though many times it is too late to do anything about the cancer or other complications or disease they find from the MRI’s, it at least gives notice to the patients and their families. Though this is sad, the invention has given many people the opportunity to say goodbye and cherish their last moments. This gave people a foresight to see how long they have left. And also gave more information to help doctors with diagnosing patients.
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