Darren New wrote:
> Sabrina Kilian wrote:
>> Technical reason that the camera could not get closer. The Magnetom Trio
>> (name on the machine) is a 3 Tesla MRI. A digital camera, or anything
>> ferrous, would not stand a chance near that.
> 
> Well, the dude on the outside is looking at *something*.  I'm assuming
> there's some electronics-based display in the control room or something.
> 

Having never been in one of those specific machines, I can't say for
sure. Most of the displays, however, don't do all of the fancy graphics
and colors as the machine is running. Secondly, to show all of the scan,
they would have to introduce a radiologist or rad-technician, as most
hospitals would not let a doctor of mathematics operate an MRI (he could
be trained as a tech, I suppose). Less snappy for TV. Also, those
multiple displays in the control area are not usually for showing the
MRI data. One or two would display the rather ancient UI, with large
numbers displaying how far the bed is from it's rest position and other
diagnostic data from the machine itself.

I don't have any MRI technicians I can email about how fast the displays
in the control room are updated. I know that for sonograms, the display
is generally just for sighting, even the false color is just a quick
render to aid the technician in getting the image they want. The print,
film, file, whatever, version is what is used for diagnosis.

Next time I get near an fMRI, I will pester the techs about how fast
they can shift what is on the control display, and whether it can keep
up with the scanner in real-time.

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