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A picture is worth a thousand words, as the well-known saying goes. At Scannexus we go a step further. We have a number of high-tech MRI scanners, with which we can create images of even the smallest fibres in the human body. Whether we are reading brain activity or visualising minuscule structures in cartilage. Unlike the ‘normal’ hospital scanners, our MRIs are used exclusively for research. This means that scientists can use a much more powerful 7-tesla scanner as well as a 9.4-tesla scanner – one of only two such scanners that are operational in the world. These scanners open up unimagined possibilities for researchers. The capacity of an MRI scanner is expressed in tesla, which indicates the strength of the magnetic field. The higher the number of tesla, the more detailed the image. If you imagine a map, the 3-tesla hospital scanner will only enable you to identify the motorways. With a 7-tesla, you will also see the provincial roads and a 9.4-Tesla scanner will reveal even the little country roads. It will give access to unique, fundamental knowledge, with which further new medical innovations and treatment techniques can be developed. When treating Parkinsons’s patients with deep brain stimulation, for example, precise placement of the electrodes in the brain is crucially important. The more detail you have on a scan, the more precisely you can place the neurostimulator. But a powerful MRI scanner also provides added value in developing such techniques further. For example, in other neurological conditions, such as Tourette’s syndrome or epilepsy, you can see which areas of the brain are active and which are not. With the 9.4-tesla, you can even test the boundaries of science. Researchers can literally read minds or visualise how a person can hear sound. Together with researchers and doctors, we make these – and many other – discoveries possible. To push the boundaries a little further each time, we are also continually investing in new technologies. In this way, we can keep taking that one extra step. For more information, go to: www.scannexus.com On the job Kim Feron manager operations (Scannexus)


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