|
 "We can potentially detect the disease in its earlier stages and,
consequently, monitor it more precisely" Nicolas Boulant the
project's scientific director, told Reuters.
MRI, which has been in use for decades, allows physicians to see
which parts of the brain have been damaged while a patient is still
alive. The technology uses strong magnetic fields and radio waves to
produce detailed images.
The scanner being developed by the French researchers, as part of
what is called Project Iseult, involves a new supermagnet in a
cylinder shape which is much heavier than those in use already.
The supermagnet measures 5 meters (16 feet) in length and 5 meters
in diameter, about as long as a sedan, and weighs 130 metric tonnes,
the weight of a blue whale.
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It will obtain brain images a hundred times more detailed than
current imaging machines, the researchers say. It is still in
development and is expected to produce its first image by the end of
2020 or the beginning of 2021.
Project Iseult will also allow scientists "to better understand our
brain and how it works, and to study characteristics of what is
special to the human species, things like music, mathematics and
language", added Boulant.
(Reporting by Thierry Chiarello, Pascale Antonie, Ardee Napolitano ;
Writing by Benoit Van Overstraeten ; Editing by Christian Lowe)
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