Modern medical imaging has made invasive exploratory surgeries a thing of the past. The X-Ray portions of medical imaging are being phased out by technologies like MR angiography (MRA), CT angiography (CTA), and ultrasound angiography. These are way to detect blockages and plaque in blood vessels with. They also do away with the dyes that can cause anaphylactic shock in rare cases, and minor irritation in others. Conventional angiography will soon only be necessary as an aid for angioplasty surgery.

Magnetic Resonance work is closer to showing not only structure of system in the body, but function of these systems. Echo Planar Imaging or EPI can now show brain activity making it possible for early detection of strokes. Functional Magnetic Resonance (FMR) can show the workings of the myocardium or heart muscle. Other MR procedures can show the movements or coronary vessels, and make a movie like scene of a heart beating. These evolving technologies will begin to come faster as they did in the late 1970 ?s as computer speeds and costs come down. The time line for advances in medical imaging runs directly parallel to advanced in computers theses days. As computer innovations come along, they are soon directed into medical imaging.
Another advance in MRI is the more patient friendly designs of the equipment itself. Due to the long periods of time patients had to remain completely still in a certain position for sometimes up to half an hour. Again faster computers have reduced these times dramatically, and will continue to do so for some time to come. Newer open designs lessen the anxiety of claustrophobic patients. The ?C ? shaped open MRI designs have 0.2 to 0.3 Tesla field strength and are typically open on all sides. Short bore MR machines use a shorted magnet, and use a shallower tube with a wider opening, also reducing anxiety among the claustrophobic. High Field exams are another way to reduce the time a patient must spend in the MRI cooperating.

These advances however have taken 10 to 12 years to go from inception to wide circulation. The real innovations are yet to come. The FDA recently approved for marketing clearance The NOGA XP Cardiac Navigation System. It is a 3D imaging system built on a proprietary magnet reference system that works similarly to a global positioning system. It can produce a 3 dimensional reconstruction of real anatomy accurate to 1mm. This technology is being tested in 17 clinical studies currently and will be available in the United States in the 2nd Quarter of 2006. Other Recent developments in imaging are Aurora ?s Dedicated Breast MRI system with Bilateral UltraRODEO (rotating delivery of excitation off-resonance) this is the only FDA cleared MRI system specifically for breast imaging. It also features an easy to use biopsy function, and Aurora CAD physician diagnostic tools.
Just as in other businesses, software advancements are also big in medical imaging. New software packages of 2D, 3D, and 4D images of hearts, for multi dimensional cardiac images, cardiac function analysis, calcium scoring, and peripheral vessel analysis are new advances in software for imaging.