Negev gets boost from MRI brain scanner
06/18/2012 22:09
Southern residents now have new MRI scanner -one of the most advanced in the country at Soroka, Ben Gurion University.
BEERSHEBA’S NEW MRI scanner Photo: Soroka University Medical Center
Residents of the South now have a new MRI scanner – one of the most advanced in
the country – for performing brain scans and research at Soroka University
Medical Center and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba.
The
$3 million cost was shared by Clalit Health Services, which owns the hospital;
Soroka University Medical Center; donors Harvey and Miri Katz of Houston, Texas;
donor Jacob Shochat of New Jersey; the Skirball Foundation in New York; and BGU
Friends in Texas.
Clalit director-general Eli Depes attended the
unveiling ceremony Monday, along with Deputy Health Minister Ya’acov Litzman,
BGU president Prof. Rivka Carmi, Beersheba Mayor Rubik Danilevich and other
guests.
The advanced scanner, the Ingenia 3- Tesla model from the Philips
company, cost $2m. to purchase and another $1m.
to house. It is the
second MRI installed at Soroka and will be used jointly not only to scan
patients’ brains but also to conduct brain research at the
university.
Depes said that the infrastructure and equipment at Soroka
make it possible for the medical teams to provide the best care. “They are now
among the best in the country. Clalit has invested in Soroka over many years
with a long-term view.”
Carmi – a pediatrician and geneticist, and
formerly dean of BGU’s School of Health Sciences – said that “doctors and
scientists in the field of nerve sciences, as well as psychologists and other
behavioral researchers, will use the device, which expresses the important
connection between the two institutions. It will benefit both sides to benefit
Negev residents and the world of medicine in general.”
Hospital director
Michael Sherf said that the second MRI, one of the most sophisticated in Israel,
is part of the process of introducing the most advanced technologies to the
hospital.
“This MRI will make it possible to research the brain at a high
level and with leading doctors and scientists. It will serve Negev residents in
every matter involving complicated and special examinations.”
The
technology makes it possible to convert the emitted analog signal into digital
data immediately after it leaves the body. Thanks to this, it is possible to
significantly improve the resulting pictures, which are produced at high speed,
compared to analog MRI systems, said Dr. Ilan Shelef, head of the hospital’s
imaging institute.
The highly exact device will be used for patients with
strokes, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy and autism, as well as other brain
diseases, said Prof. Alon Friedman, chairman of BGU’s Center for Neuron
Studies.
Soroka experts perform some 14,000 scans a year, some on adults
and others on children and even fetuses.