
I had my head examined... - abstractbill
http://abstractnonsense.com/mri/
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n8agrin
If you haven't ever read about how MRIs work, you should. I first learned how
MRIs work in college while studying biochemistry. The same technology is used
in that field, but called NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance). It is the only
medical technology that still blows me away when I sit down and think about
it. The people who realized they could use it to take cross-sectional scans of
peoples bodies without any invasive procedure are true geniuses.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_resonance_imaging>

~~~
messel
Heh, I did an NMR experiment in senior lab back in school (1995 senior lab)
and had forgotten that this is precisely how MRI works (the resonance should
have given it away). I wish I had my old lab book (only had a paper copy) to
review the experiment now, it's fogging out big time from my memory.

~~~
n8agrin
Not sure if it's true, but my prof in college told us that the reason the name
was changed was because of the negative connotation of the word "nuclear".
Otherwise it's exactly the same technology as NMR.

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gcheong
I heard that as well from a couple profs of mine, doesn't mean it's true but
it sounds reasonable.

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abstractbill
This is my favorite image btw - my eyeballs look _awesome_!

[http://abstractnonsense.com/mri-images/top-to-
bottom/0117.jp...](http://abstractnonsense.com/mri-images/top-to-
bottom/0117.jpg)

~~~
ErrantX
A whole new meaning to the phrase "you have beautiful eyes"

~~~
euccastro
Actually, I have once been complimented in a bar with the phrase "you have
such big eyeballs!" It was mildly flattering since I could tell she meant it
as a compliment, but I felt really weird.

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robg
A great intuitive way to link head mri's to actual heads. Thanks for this. I
expect it will be really helpful for students.

If anyone wants to get paid (usually about $30/hour) to have your head
examined, search for a fMRI lab at the biggest universities in your area.
You'll usually also get an image or two. If you ask nicely you may also be
able to get the same type of set as here.

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andreas_s
If you're in Boston (or somewhere close) and want to get your brain scanned as
part of a study, look for announcements here:

<http://mollylab-1.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/bcs-subjects>

You'll get a CD with your images, and you'll get paid ($30 per hour, two hours
on average).

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axod
Awesome :)

Really interesting to see it in an easy to use UI like that.

All we need now is a zoom -> enhance, zoom -> enhance. Down to the neuron
level.

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itodd
Be sure to play with your study in OsiriX: <http://www.osirix-viewer.com/>

It will build a 3d Model where you can peel back all the way to the bone.

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icey
That's pretty cool. Did you go to a private company to get your MRI done or
was this something that was covered under your insurance and they just
happened to let you keep the data?

~~~
tocomment
I'm curious too how you got the data? Did you give you slices like that, and
you scanned them?

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wesley
Different guy here, also had an mri done. I simply got a cd-rom with the image
slices and a software to view them. There's about 600 images if I can recall
correctly.

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icey
Via insurance or private company?

I would really like to do this, but I have no medical reason to do it. I'm
just curious about what my insides look like. If anyone knows of a place that
will let random joes get an MRI in exchange for money, I'd be interested in
hearing about it - as well as how much it costs.

~~~
sachinag
Please be aware that MRIs have an utterly _massive_ amount of radiation.
X-rays are almost always done first because of the risk of damage from the
radiation. You really don't want to have an elective MRI. (That said, I'm
aware of no known studies that have demonstrated long-term risk from MRI
radiation, but to me, prudence says you don't subject yourself to an MRI that
you don't have to.)

~~~
aarongough
The 'radiation' involved in an MRI is electro-magnetic radiation, otherwise
known as radio waves. It's true that the field strengths involved are
thousands of times stronger than what you encounter in everyday life but they
are by no means harmful the way that ionizing particle radiation (X-rays,
gammra rays, etc) is...

The most likely side effect is peripheral nerve stimulation and even that
highly unlikely because the field strengths are controlled to avoid it...

In general MRIs are perfectly harmless and don't have any serious or lasting
side-effects.

Check out: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_resonance_imaging> for more
info

~~~
sachinag
See, I read that to make sure I wasn't crazy, and I just didn't see the
distinction.

I want to be clear: you're saying it's totally safe to get an MRI or a full
body scan or whatever else as a totally elective procedure?

~~~
yummyfajitas
An MRI below about 5-6 teslas is perfectly safe provided there is no ferrous
shrapnel in your body. If there is shrapnel in your body, the magnet will pull
it out and cut your body in the process.

(The X-ray is done to make sure you don't have any shrapnel and also because
it is cheaper. If the X-ray reveals the problem, you can avoid the more
expensive MRI.)

RF radiation will only harm the human body at very high field strengths (think
microwave oven). The typical medical machine only gets 1-3 teslas, though a
few research machines can reach the 6-8 tesla neighborhood (e.g., Dan
Sodickson has an 8 tesla machine here at NYU).

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ErrantX
Thanks for sharing that - the human body is crazily fascinating and the brain
has to be one of the most intriguing parts of it.

Seeing "inside" one's head is a little awe inspiring.

~~~
JeremyChase
Yes, thank you for sharing. I had a lot of fun poking around your head. I hope
that whatever was ailing you has subsided.

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RK
There are a number of programs out there to look at images from MRI's, CT,
etc, but if you are interested in hacking something together, the pydicom
library is worth checking out.

<http://code.google.com/p/pydicom/>

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anigbrowl
Nice work! Fascinating to observe the differences between your left and right
hemispheres. Are the barrel distortions constant or a function of the
scanner's travel? eg move the Z/blue line all the way to the front or back of
the head, and the sides pincushion inwards. I couldn't make out if it was
constant or not, but the shape of the Y/Red frame seemed to change as it moves
from top to bottom.

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yan
Is it possible to participate in some students project and get your head
scanned for free as part of a study? That would be sweet.

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datums
Nice work. How long till every one of our doctors has easy access to something
like this ?

~~~
niels_olson
Docs pretty much all have easy access to MRI, at least in the US. I have
prescribed MRIs for patients in rural Louisiana. We just tell the patient "go
get an MRI". Either the hospital radiology group has a scanner, or there are
radiologists with MRI machines out in town. The patient just has to sign a
HIPAA release so I can get the images and the radiologist's report.

Fun fact: one of the failed attempts at regulating doctors was to for the
government to buy machines for hospitals, thinking somehow the government
would maybe somehow have some control over something, maybe who got scanned?
Net effect was an explosion in high-end OR and radiology equipment.

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DEinspanjer
Were you thinking about sexy women during the scan? If you focus the green
axis of the scan just one click to the right from the center of your nose,
your brain stem looks just like a dancer leaning against a wall.. Either that
or a crucifix. Maybe you are catholic? :)

Anyway, very interesting pictures. Thanks for sharing.

