The University Patent Foundation honored John P. Mugler, III and James R. Brookeman Monday with the 2009 Edlich-Henderson Inventors of the Year Award. The radiology and biomedical engineering researchers received the award for their work in the advancement of magnetic resonance imaging techniques.
The honor is awarded to an inventor, or inventors, who patented or copyrighted a technology that has significantly affected society, said Marie Kerbeshian, executive director and CEO of the University Patent Foundation.
“The biggest reason we selected them this year is the valuable impact that their work has had ... on a big study in universities across the country on changes in the brain associated with Alzheimer’s disease,” she said.
Specifically, Mugler and Brookeman’s work enabled the practical use of 3-D imaging.
“In the early days of MRI, you just had two-dimensional images,” Brookeman said. “Here you can get a data set that can be viewed as a three-dimensional object. And as such, if you wanted to look at part of it, you can orientate the view on the computer work station to be from any direction.”
Brookeman also added that this technology has many positive implications for the medical world.
“This is particularly useful in the brain where there are so many complex structures that extend over various parts of the brain,” he said. “The 3-D data set gives you ... a clear way of visualizing the total extent of a tumor. That turns out to be important because if you’re going to do a surgical procedure ... you need to make sure that you remove all of it.”
Despite the obvious advantages, Brookeman noted that the MRI technology will not make actual medical procedures easier.
“The surgery itself is not easier,” he said, “but what it’s enabled is the surgical planning to be made easier.”
Additionally, Mugler noted that their work has improved image contrast and allows doctors to better view the details of the brain, like small focal abnormalities. This translates to a more complete description of their patients’ diseases. Mugler also added that the technology has enabled doctors to detect subtle changes in brain structures, like atrophy of certain parts. Thus, doctors can differentiate more easily between changes associated with Alzheimer’s and those associated with normal aging.
Meanwhile, Kerbeshian also added that their research has significantly improved the efficiency of MRI imaging.
“Prior to their invention, it just wasn’t feasible to use this 3-D imaging with real patients. Basically to get good images before, you had to get someone laying still in the claustrophobic machine for 10 minutes, which is difficult even for healthy people,” she said, adding that the technology cuts the time by more than half.
Furthermore, Mugler said the technology has been implemented in thousands of MRI scanners worldwide. Brookeman noted that the University is not unique in having this type of research program, adding that similar research has been conducted at 50 or 60 research and teaching hospitals around the world. He attributed the rise of this technology to the necessity of identifying more subtle abnormalities in the brain.
“One thing you need for that is a very accurate map of the whole brain,” he said, “so that has become a really useful factor now.”
Although the team obtained a patent in 1983, Brookeman said they needed to wait for fast computer work stations and doctors comfortable with using the technology to further their research.
“It needed Bill Gates and Nintendo doctors,” he said.
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