When: 1970s
Where: USA and UK
Why: It has allowed doctors to see detailed images of the inside of patients’ bodies without surgery
How: Three inventors separately pursued a way to improve diagnostic medicine
Who: Paul Lanterbur, Sir Peter Mansfield and Raymond Damadian
Fact: The MRI market is worth in excess of $5bn
Doctors have always been fascinated with what is taking place inside patients’ bodies. While diagnoses can sometimes be deduced by examining a patient externally, at other times only the internal workings of the body hold the key to what is wrong. Surgery is expensive, intrusive and potentially dangerous, so being able to see inside the body without physically cutting a hole had long been an ambition for the medical profession.
The earliest breakthrough came in the late 19th century with the discovery of X-rays and the subsequent machines. However, these could only really be used to look at bones, and something more subtle would be required to spot other illnesses. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) became that critical tool. The MRI uses a strong magnetic field to produce a reaction in the nuclei of cells. These reactions are scanned, creating a detailed internal picture of the body and enabling doctors to see on a screen such things as tumours and cancers and make a definitive diagnosis. Over the past 30 years, the MRI machine has become a genuine life-saver.
During the 1950s, a British scientist called Peter Mansfield began to work in the field of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Others before him had seen the potential of the area as a way to study the molecular structure of chemicals. Mansfield was tasked with creating a machine that would harness this nascent technology to create a practical scientific application. He designed a portable spectrometer powered by transistors that could be used to scan chemicals and provide key information about them. Mansfield thought that if such a device could be safely used on a living human being, then it would have remarkable implications for medical science. Shortly after his work on NMR, Mansfield embarked on a path of study that enabled him to make key discoveries leading to the creation of the MRI machine.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, Paul Lanterbur was heading in a similar direction. He was drafted into the army in the 1950s, but was allowed to pursue his scientific pursuits working on an early NMR machine. He published several papers on NMR and, like Mansfield, pursued the idea of a machine that could be used to work on a human body.
By the 1970s, the two men were making breakthroughs independently. Lanterbur was working at Stony Brook, part of the State University of New York. Here, he hit upon a number of ideas that, by the 1970s, helped to create the first MRI scanner. The machine focused high-powered sound waves on specific areas of the body, which would agitate the cells. The excited cells would send out radio waves that could be scanned and used to produce a detailed internal picture of the body. Lanterbur introduced the idea of using gradients in the magnetic field to pin-point the origin of these radio waves. Mansfield, meanwhile, working at the University of Nottingham, discovered how the data made from a scan could be analysed. Both men built early prototypes of MRI machines in the early 1970s. Mansfield actually managed to create a machine that was able to successfully scan a human hand.
Both Mansfield and Lanterbur should have become very wealthy as a result of their efforts … However, only Mansfield was able to successfully patent his work. Lanterbur tried to, but was not supported by Stony Brook […] this later proved to be a terribly unwise decision.
As the research emerged, commercial interests in the creation of a fully functioning MRI machine became highly active. The aim was to create a machine that could scan an entire human body and be deployed in a hospital. Both Mansfield and Lanterbur should have become very wealthy as a result of their efforts, as the medical industry was likely to spend millions on this ground-breaking research. However, only Mansfield was able to successfully patent his work. Lanterbur tried to, but was not supported by Stony Brook, which believed that the cost of taking out a patent would never be recouped – this later proved to be a terribly unwise decision.
By the late 1970s, however, another man was claiming credit for the MRI scanner. Dr Raymond Damadian had written a number of papers on MRI and had successfully lodged patents. In 1977, he also created the very first MRI scanner that could conduct an entire body scan. Damadian dubbed the 1½ ton machine ‘The Indomitable’ and a year later set up the Fonar Corporation to sell MRI scanners based on his successful prototype.
As the 1980s began, big business moved into the production of MRI scanners for commercial sales. However, controversy was rarely far away because Damadian pursued legal action against many companies for breaching his patents. Most famously, General Electric had to pay out $129m.
The legal fracas probably slowed the spread of the MRI machine into hospitals, but eventually the matter was settled. Lanterbur and Damadian engaged one another in a battle of words and insults over who was to take the credit for MRI, a matter that they never resolved.
Once the legal barriers were overcome, the medical establishment rapidly invested in the machines. This meant the money made could go back into research and development and be used to further improve the products. By the mid-1980s, the speed at which the machines could produce images had radically improved, and today the scans work in real time. MRIs can also produce highly detailed images of the brain and have helped to advance medical science considerably. By 2002, it was estimated that 22,000 MRI cameras were in use and over 60 million scans had been conducted. Today the MRI scanner market is worth $5.6bn globally and some of the world’s biggest names, such as General Electric, Siemens and Philips Medical Systems, are all involved in their production and deployment.
By 2002, it was estimated that 22,000 MRI cameras were in use and over 60 million scans had been conducted.
The controversy over MRI rages on to this day and was notably inflamed in 2003, when the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine was awarded to Paul Lauterbur and Sir Peter Mansfield for their contributions to MRI. Nobel Prizes can be awarded to up to three people. However, the judges decided not to include Damadian. He was furious at the decision and took out full page advertisements in the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times to make his displeasure known. He and Lanterbur continued the war of words that had begun years earlier, but it was only the latter who took the distinguished prize.
The story of MRI shows just how controversial research and development can be, especially when scientists are all heading in the same direction. It also demonstrates the importance of patenting your research. Damadian never got a Nobel Prize but did become very rich. Lanterbur got the credit but never made the fortune he might have done. Mansfield, by successfully realising his vision and attaining a patent, enjoyed both the wealth and the acclaim.