(Houston – March 1, 2005) – Dr. Rahul Nath, a reconstructive microsurgeon at the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas, and founder and director of the Texas Nerve and Paralysis Institute, announces the grand opening of Natural MRI, the City of Houston’s first stand-up magnetic resonance scanning or imaging (MRI) facility at 8307 Knight Road in Houston (www.drnathmri.com).
MRI is a method of looking inside the body without using surgery, harmful dyes or x-rays. The scanner uses magnetism and radio waves to produce remarkably clear pictures of the human anatomy. Stand-Up™ MRI allows patients to stand, sit or lay down while they are scanned.
With this technology, patients for the first time can be scanned in weight-bearing postures and in the position that causes their symptoms. The upright posture places all of the joints, including the shoulder, neck and spine, under the influence of gravity, which allows for better imaging to determine misalignment of the shoulder joints and abnormal spine positions.
“Scanning patients in the weight-bearing position is the only one that makes sense, especially when imaging the spine and knee joints. Using Stand-Up™ MRI, I have been able to identify pathology in patients that is not visible using traditional scanners. Other aspects that can only effectively be imaged in the upright position include the prostate gland and hernias,” Dr. Nath said.
Prior to opening the Natural MRI facility, Dr. Nath scanned more than 300 patients since December 2004 using Stand-UP™ MRI technology.
“I chose to open the Natural MRI facility because the patients I treat for complex nerve injuries, such as brachial plexus and winging scapula, benefit from a scan that will help me better diagnose their injury. With Stand-Up™ MRI, children do not have to undergo risky sedation as with traditional MRI scans,” Dr. Nath said.
Dr. Nath said that Stand-Up™ MRI is remarkably spacious and non-claustrophobic and that his patients typically sit comfortably watching a 42-inch television monitor throughout the procedure. Patients as young as six months old can be scanned while they are sitting on an adult’s lap. The entire process takes approximately 20 to 30 minutes to complete.
Dr. Nath utilizes the FONAR Corporation’s Stand-Up™ MRI, the company’s whole-body Upright™ imaging system, which is the world's only whole-body open MRI scanner with the ability to perform Position Imaging™ (pMRI™), which is imaging that is performed while patients are standing, sitting, bending or lying down. With its unique ability to scan patients in weight-bearing postures, the FONAR Stand-Up™ MRI has identified pathology that had gone undetected on conventional, lie-down MRI scanners.
Dr. Nath is Board-certified by the American Board of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, and is a widely published author, as well as a member of the American Society for Peripheral Nerve, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Houston Neurological Society. He has been named one of “America’s Top Doctors” every year since 2001 and travels internationally to lecture and give instructional courses on nerve injury and management.
Dr. Nath specializes in treating brachial plexus injuries, winging scapula injuries, prostate nerve injuries, foot drop, facial paralysis, impotence and nerve tumors.
For more information about Stand-Up™ MRI, contact Dr. Nath at (713) 592-9800 or drnath@drnathmedical.com.
# # # |
