The OrthoOne is the world's first open magnet to offer the high-field performance associated with the whole body MRI unit. It is five times more powerful than its low-field counterpart, generating images with much higher resolution, which is paramount when diagnosing very finite areas and small joints. At the same time, it offers the patient maximum comfort and mobility, only focusing the magnet on one area of the body, such as the foot or leg, and leaving the rest of the body free from the magnet's core.

''The extremity magnet is particularly promising in the use of children, who are often frightened by the immensity, sense of confinement and noise associated with the regular whole body magnet,'' says Paul Kleinman, M.D., director of Skeletal and Muscular Imaging in Children's Radiology Department. ''We have been very pleased with the quality of the images.''

Dr. Kleinman anticipates many service advantages to the magnet. When children with sports and orthopaedic injuries are scheduled to see an orthopaedist, they can also book an appointment for an extremity MRI scanning. The extremity magnets will not be pre-scheduled with more time- consuming whole body and head scans, making them more readily accessible. The images can also be available immediately for patients, who previously had to schedule a separate appointment on another date for the MRI and then another follow-up appointment with the orthopaedist.

Matt Silverman, a father of 6 children from Concord, had firsthand experience with the magnet when his 11-year old son, Ross, received a hard blow from a cleat during a soccer match. Young Ross was still experiencing pain two Medicine Program. Sports Medicine Specialist Pierre D'Hemecourt, M.D., was able to immediately schedule Ross for an MRI scan in the extremity unit and before the end of the day had figured out that there was no permanent damage to his knee. In fact, Ross happened to visit Children's during an ice cream party for staff during National Nurses Week and he was able to eat ice cream during the scanning.

At less than $500,000, the extremities magnet is one-third the cost of a whole body MRI and installation costs are estimated to be also only a third. Whole body units weigh between 8,000 and 15,000 pounds, often requiring special support beams and 1,000 square feet of space for installation. In contrast, the OrthoOne weighs 1,400 pounds and requires 165 square feet.

''This will make a big difference in our ability to respond to sports injuries. In the future, however, we are looking to adapt this technology so that we maybe able to do whole body scans of babies,'' says George Taylor, M.D., chief of Radiology at Children's.