Magmedix Gravity System

Conventional MRI and CT exams scan patients in the recumbent position thus negating the effects of gravity on the spine. The Gravity System is compatible with all commercially available standard MRI and CT systems. It places an axial load on the spine during routine imaging procedures.

This simulates the upright position providing additional valuable information and may reveal occult pathology under weight bearing conditions.

Multiple sizes of vests make it quick and easy to connect the patient to the Gravity System	Custom made springs maintain constant axial load during studies	Load Sensors that are integrated into the foot plate measure force being applied and are accurate to 1/10th pound.

Click on picture for larger view.

Independent Studies Show the Importance of Weight Bearing MRI In a study titled:

Dynamic Effects on the Lumbar Spinal Canal: Axially Loaded CT-Myelography and MRI in Patients with Sciatica and/or Neurogenic Claudication, Jan Willen, M.D., Ph.D.; Barbro Danielson, M.D., Ph.D.; Arne Gaulitz, M.D.; Thomas Niklason; Nils Schonstrom, M.D.,Ph.D; Tommy Hansson, M.D., Ph.D., Spine 1997,Volume 22, Number 24, pp 2968 - 76.

• 79% of patients experienced a significant reduction of the dural sac cross-sectional area during axial compression
• 35% of patients passed the borderlines for relative (100mm2) or absolute stenosis (75mm2)
• 36% of patients experienced deformation of the dural sac during axial compression
• 13% of patients experienced a narrowing of the lateral recess during axial compression

This study recommends axial loading of the lumbar spine in computed tomographic scanning and magnetic resonance imaging and concludes that the diagnostic specificity of spinal stenosis will increase considerably when a patient is subject to axial load.

Click on pictures above for larger view

A Study Presented at the 2002 American Society of Neuroradiology (ASNR) 40th Annual Meeting and Symposium. Presented by S. Khan, J.F. Hemmer, W.K. Earley, J.F. Seeger of the University of Arizona Health Science Center.

• 33% of the patients examined progressed from a non-critical to critical stenosis of the thecal sac with axial loading;
• There was an AP diameter reduction in 50% of levels in sagittal scans and a cross-sectional area reduction in 64% of the axial scans at all disc levels imaged;
• 25% of patients with one critical stenotic level developed a second critical stenotic level under axial loading;
• Previously undetected synovial cysts of diverticulae developed at 20 levels during axial loading of 50 patients.