Brain imaging techniques also have possibly more frivolous uses. Sorensen brought up a recent study showing that people with many friends on Facebook have more neurons in a certain region of their brain.

"If you're a more social person, you develop more social neurons," he said, adding that he's reminded by his wife that he has "exactly four social neurons."


7-T MRI, PET-MR

Two promising new technologies include 7-T MRI and PET-MR. PET-MR is already on the market: Siemens' Biograph mMR, the first fully integrated such scanner, received Food and Drug Administration clearance earlier in the year, while Philips Healthcare announced at the show that its dual-scanner unit also got FDA's OK.

This technology, which Sorensen said was being used in cancer research, has already passed what he dubbed the "phone call test" - that is, people around the country are calling him and asking about it. And he foresees an especially strong demand from the "dose-conscious pediatric community," as swapping out CT for MRI for attenuation correction could result in lower radiation doses to children during scanning.

7-T MRI is further away from the clinic. GE, Siemens and Philips all make 7-T scanners, but all are in the investigational stage, and none has been cleared by the FDA. Still, Sorensen said early work on 7-T has shown it's promising for brain research. For example, there's evidence that cerebral arteries that are invisible on 1.5-T scanners can be seen on 7-T, and that doctors might be able to better see micro-bleeds. It also could be useful in picking out brain lesions in multiple sclerosis patients.

Of course, 7-T MRI is also a money-eater. Literally, in the case of a video Sorensen showed, in which a rolled-up dollar bill was actually drawn towards the 7-T's bore, because of the device's powerful magnet.

"We said the 7-T just sucks up money," Sorensen joked.

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