The Brevard Technical Journal

Curing from the inside out
Neuro Imaging utilizes ground-breaking technology to stave medical maladies

by Anne Straub
Brevard Technical Journal

If you have a medical problem that requires an MRI, don't be surprised if your primary physician sends you to … Melbourne.

Some of the newest advances in magnetic resonance imaging technology quickly find their way to the Neuro Imaging Institute on Hibiscus Boulevard. The center is a launch site for MRI products by manufacturing giant Siemens.

"We do more here than anyone in Central Florida," said Dr. Marc Shapiro, neuroradiologist at the center. The facility is run by Shapiro; Dr. Tom Magee, director of musculoskeletal MRI; and Dr. David Williams, director of body MRI. The group also runs an imaging center on Merritt Island.

Magnetic resonance imaging exposes the body's tissues to magnetic fields and measures their responses. The detailed images of the internal body are particularly helpful in visualizing the brain, but MRI also is used to gain clearer pictures of a multitude of problems, such as joint pain, fractures and herniated discs.

Keeping up with the technology requires substantial investment. The Melbourne center alone contains about $6 million in equipment, and that figure rises to $10 million when the Merritt Island equipment is added.

That investment is paying dividends for students in the Florida Institute of Technology psychology doctorate program. The department sends students to shadow Shapiro, who continues to publish research and serves on the clinical staff of the University of Miami.

The window into the doctor's work is invaluable for the doctorate students, many of whom will use the technology they're exposed to at the center in their own practices. "A lot are going into more traditional medical settings," Florida Tech's Dr. Tom Peake said of the students. "Psychologists are being used with neurology."

Coming up, Peake plans to take students to the center to conduct research. They'll study which parts of the brain show activity when people are performing different functions, such as reading. The results should suggest therapy options by giving researchers a clearer picture of how the brain works, said Peake, professor of psychology and associate dean for practice development in the school of psychology.

Shapiro is committed to staying on the cutting edge of medical technology.

"We don't ever want a patient to leave here and go to Massachusetts General or the Mayo Clinic and have them say there's another study that needs to be done. We want them to say that the diagnosis is correct," said Shapiro, who completed his neuroradiology fellowship at Yale University.

The Merritt Island facility contains the first cardiac-grade MRI in Central Florida, the Siemens Sonata.

This month, the Melbourne site plans to install Siemens' first 1 Tesla open magnet machine in the United States. The open feature should help patients remain calm by eliminating the claustrophobic feelings some patients experience in an MRI machine. And the strength will provide better imaging and faster scanning than other MRIs: The 1 Tesla magnet is a significant improvement beyond the more common 0.2 Tesla machines, and even the stronger 0.7 Tesla magnet.

The faster speed should increase output from 50 scans a day in Melbourne to 70 a day.

Also among its firsts, the institute was at the forefront in Central Florida in performing brain spectroscopy, which measures biochemicals in the brain and other tissues. It will be the first to use prostate spectroscopy, which helps determine which lesions are cancerous.

The facility also is using Siemens' new picture archiving and radiology information systems, which allow technicians quick computer access to each patient's medical information and corresponding images.

Plans call for further expansion: Another center will open in Winter Park in October, and Orlando and Boca Raton are slated for centers, as well.

Staff is increasing at the same time. This month, the institutes add two new doctors, a musculoskeletal radiologist from Massachusetts General and a neuroradiologist from Johns Hopkins. The two Brevard County facilities employ about 50 people.