IRVINE : Magnet to Be Used in Research on Imaging

An eight-ton magnet has been donated to UC Irvine’s College of Medicine and will be used for research into new techniques for magnetic resonance imaging, a state-of-the-art diagnostic procedure that produces pictures of tissues and organs without X-rays.

The magnet, a gift from the Permag Corp. of Los Alamitos, will be used on the Irvine campus and not at the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Center at the university’s medical center in Orange.

The new magnet is 20 times weaker than the MRI magnet. The new device will be used to try out different diagnostic methods on animals or “phantom” patients, said Dr. Richard Friedenberg, chairman of the college’s radiology department and director of the MRI program. The donated magnet is too weak for clinical use, he said.

While the magnet at the hospital must be powered by an electrical current, the new research magnet is “a permanent magnet. It’s constantly on,” Friedenberg said. It is probably worth between $50,000 and $100,000 to researchers in the field, he said.

The new magnet is part of UCI’s plan to have five magnets for clinical and diagnostic use, Friedenberg said.

Magnetic imaging gives pictures of internal organs, similar to X-rays or computerized tomography, but without using radiation, Friedenberg said.