Exhibit 99.1
Largest Orthopedic Hospital in the Netherlands Purchases
FONAR Upright Multi-Position MRI
St. Maartenskliniek Concluded That From Their "Spine Center's" Point of View,
Owning FONAR's Weight-Bearing Multi-Position MRI, Once It Became Available,
Was Mandatory and Not Optional
MELVILLE, NY - September 13, 2006 - FONAR Corporation (NASDAQ: FONR - News),
The Inventor of MR Scanning(TM), reported today that the St. Maartenskliniek,
the Netherlands largest orthopedic hospital, has placed an order for the FONAR
Upright(TM) Multi-Position(TM) MRI. The St. Maartenskliniek, in Nijmegen,
Netherlands has over 300 beds. It also has an extensive outpatient clinic
dedicated to treatment and scientific research.
Two pictures of St. Maartenskliniek can be seen at the FONAR Web site at
www.fonar.com/news/091306a.htm
In reviewing the St. Maartenskliniek's reasons for purchasing the FONAR
Upright(TM) Multi-Position(TM) MRI scanner, Dr. Paul Pavlov, Director of the
St. Maartenskliniek and Chairman of Spine Surgery at the St. Maartenskliniek's
internationally acclaimed "Spine Centre" said, "We at the St. Maartenskliniek,
the biggest orthopedic hospital in the Netherlands, are very much looking
forward to this new technology from FONAR, which will enable us to evaluate the
spine anatomy in the fully weight-bearing state and in multiple positions. We
expect these new multi-position capabilities to lead to more accurate diagnoses
and better surgery outcomes for patients. Once our active research program has
discovered the benefits of this new FONAR technology for patients, we intend to
publish the results in a lot of peer reviewed scientific journals."
Moreover, "we concluded additionally," said Dr. Pavlov, "that once FONAR made
available upright weight-bearing MRI imaging technology, owning one for the St.
Maartenskliniek "Spine Center" was not optional, but mandatory. For our
hospital to continue to engage in spine surgery without it, once this new
technology became available, was unacceptable. Once the means were available to
make sure we were getting the complete picture of the patient's spine pathology
before undertaking surgery, so that we could be certain we were not performing
surgery based on a wrong diagnosis and running the risk of doing the wrong
surgery, we did not regard the utilization of this new technology, from our
patient's perspective, as optional. It was mandatory.
The system was sold through TECSERENA, FONAR's European Sales organization
based in Cologne, Germany (www.tecserena.com). "For TECSERENA the order is a
major breakthrough" said Alfred Schlemmer, managing director of TECSERENA. "The
visibility of the FONAR Upright technology in Europe will tremendously increase
with the St. Maartenskliniek installation."
"Over 25,000 people are treated each year at the St. Maartenskliniek," said Dr.
Raymond Damadian, president of FONAR. "We are looking forward with great
anticipation to collaborating with the St. Maartenskliniek in the use of
FONAR's new Upright(TM) MRI technology for the benefit it can bring to all
orthopedic patients. The introduction by FONAR of its weight-bearing multi-
position MRI product now means the availability of a new technology that has
broad application in the diagnosis and treatment of orthopedic pathologies."
"The orthopedic applications of upright weight-bearing MRI are vast," continued
Dr. Damadian. "The importance of weight-bearing and multi-position MRI analysis
of patients with spine disorders is extensive. Spine disorders result in
916,000 spine operations each year in the U.S. and generate approximately
10,000,000 MRI examinations of the spine annually. The St. Maartenskliniek
'Spine Centre' is world renowned as a Centre of Excellence for reconstructive
spinal surgery. The St. Maartenskliniek will be introducing FONAR's new weight-
bearing technology for the benefit of their spine patients, but their intended
uses of FONAR's new technology are not limited to the spine. The St.
Maartenskliniek's planned uses of FONAR's new technology extend well beyond the
spine to all orthopedic applications where weight-bearing and multi-position
are key factors, e.g. knee surgery, hip replacement, reconstructive foot
surgery, artificial joints, acute orthopedic injuries."
"We are particularly looking forward to collaborating with the St.
Maartenskliniek's world-renowned scientific research teams in pioneering the
multiple applications of FONAR's new technology in the numerous disciplines of
orthopedics where we believe FONAR's newly available weight-bearing MRI
technology has a key role to play in the achieving more accurate diagnoses and
improved surgical results," said Dr. Damadian. "We are delighted to be
partnering with the St. Maartenskliniek as they blaze the multi-position
weight-bearing imaging trail on the orthopedics frontier."
"We believe that the FONAR Upright(TM) Multi-Position(TM) MRI, by its ability
for the patient to walk in and be immediately scanned sitting or standing as
opposed to laying down in a conventional MRI, has another valuable role to
play. The FONAR Upright(TM) MRI is the ideal scanner for the hospital emergency
room where acute injuries and acute illnesses must be diagnosed quickly. The
St. Maartenskliniek has earned distinction for their Urgent Orthopedic
Assistance Service where acute musculoskeletal injuries are diagnosed and
treated. The development of customized imaging protocols for the rapid
diagnosis of the acute patient (orthopedic as well as non-orthopedic) that can
provide rapid MRI diagnosis and rapid MRI assessment of the adequacy of
treatment in the hospital emergency room, promises to provide a major advance
in acute medicine that can be life-saving, and minimize the complications that
turn into permanent disabilities. Rapid emergency room MRI imaging can be
expected to advance the art of acute medicine on both of these fronts, from the
availability of more rapid and more accurate diagnoses and from the more
precise (image verified) treatments that result. We expect to be working with
the St. Maartenskliniek in the development of new urgent orthopedic MRI imaging
techniques for use in the St. Maartenskliniek's Urgent Orthopedic Assistance
Service that can bring the benefits of this new technology to the acutely
injured patient," said Dr. Damadian.
"Finally, the St. Maartenskliniek is distinguished for its artificial joints
program," said Dr. Damadian. "Here again we expect to work with the St.
Maartenskliniek to make weight-bearing multi-position MRI image analysis an
integral part of reconstructive artificial joint surgery, as well as an
integral part of the post-surgical analysis of artificial joint performance.
The FONAR Upright(TM) Multi-Position(TM) MRI is also uniquely suited for the
multi-position analysis of the non-weight-bearing joints (e.g. shoulder, wrist,
elbow) since these joints are difficult to multi-position in the confined
spaces of the cylindrical tubes of conventional MRIs."
About FONAR
FONAR{reg-trade-mark} was incorporated in 1978, making it the first, oldest and
most experienced MRI manufacturer in the industry. FONAR introduced the world's
first commercial MRI in 1980, and went public in 1981. Since its inception,
FONAR has installed hundreds of MRI scanners worldwide. Their stellar product
line includes the FONAR UPRIGHT(TM) MULTI-POSITION(TM) MRI (also known as the
Stand-Up(TM) MRI), the only whole-body MRI that performs Multi-Position(TM)
imaging (mpMRI(TM) and scans patients in numerous weight-bearing positions,
i.e. standing, sitting, in flexion and extension, as well as the conventional
lie-down position. The FONAR UPRIGHT(TM) MULTI-POSITION(TM) MRI often sees the
patient's problem that other scanners cannot because they are lie-down only.
With nearly one half million patients scanned, the patient-friendly FONAR
UPRIGHT(TM) MULTI-POSITION(TM) MRI has a near zero claustrophobic rejection
rate by patients. A radiologist said, "FONAR UPRIGHT(TM) MRI - No More
Claustrophobia - The Tunnel Is Gone." As another FONAR customer states, "If the
patient is claustrophobic in this scanner, they'll be claustrophobic in my
parking lot." Approximately 85% of patients are scanned sitting while they
watch a 42" flat screen TV. FONAR's latest MRI scanner is the FONAR 360(TM), a
room-size recumbent scanner that optimizes openness while facilitating
physician access to the patient. FONAR is headquartered on Long Island, New
York, and has approximately 400 employees.
The Inventor of MR Scanning(TM), True Flow(TM) MRI, Stand-Up(TM) MRI, FONAR
UPRIGHT(TM) MRI, Position(TM) MRI, PMRI(TM) and The Proof is in the Picture(TM)
are trademarks of FONAR{reg-trade-mark} Corporation.
Be sure to visit FONAR's Web site for Company product and investor information:
www.fonar.com
This release may include forward-looking statements from the company that may
or may not materialize. Additional information on factors that could
potentially affect the company's financial results may be found in the company
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
MULTIMEDIA AVAILABLE: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=5226599
Top: An Aerial Photo of St. Maartenskliniek Nijmegen, Netherlands where
FONAR's Upright Multi-Position MRI will be installed. Bottom: A Sculpture at
the Main Entrance of St. Maartenskliniek (Photo: Business Wire). View
Multimedia Gallery
Contact:
FONAR Corporation
Daniel Culver, 631-694-2929
Fax: 631-390-1709
http://www.fonar.com
invest@fonar.com
or
Darrow Associates, Inc.
Jordan M. Darrow, 631-367-1866
Fax: 631-614-3612
jdarrow@optonline.net