MELVILLE, NEW YORK, November 22, 2005 - FONAR Corporation (NASDAQ-FONR) presses forward in its research and development of the second dimension of Upright MR imaging, True Flow Imaging, for upright imaging of the cardiovascular system. While FONAR concentrated initially on the neuro-orthopedic applications of Upright imaging, consisting primarily of perfecting technologies for Upright imaging of the weight-loaded spine, FONAR is focusing on a second major application of Upright imaging representing a patient need even greater than that of neuro-orthopedic Upright imaging.

The growth of spinal surgery is being prompted by the occurrence of disabling low back pain in people 30 to 40 years of age who are otherwise free of medical problems.

The number of patients in need of Upright MR imaging (MRI) technology is approximately comparable in both neuro-orthopedic and cardiovascular applications with the more than 1,000,000 spine surgeries being performed annually in the U.S., when compared to 959,000 cardiac surgeries per year (709,000 open heart and bypass procedures, plus 250,000 angioplasties). The need, however, to make Upright MR and its benefits available to the cardiovascular patient is more acute, since cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S., and responsible for 950,000 deaths annually.
The company will present its advances in True Flow Imaging at the Technical Exhibit of the 91st Scientific Assembly & Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago. Over 60,000 radiologists, physicians and allied health care professionals from around the world will be attending the conference.

It is well known that a host of cardiovascular pathologies are position dependent, heart attacks and strokes being the leading cause of death in America. Thus transient ischemic attacks (TIA), often the prodromal warning of incipient stroke, occur commonly when the patient arises from bed; orthostatic fainting and dizziness arise when a drop in blood pressure, hypotension, accompanies a change in body position from recumbent to erect. In congestive heart failure (CHF), the recumbent posture commonly produces severe shortness of breath. Many of these CHF patients cannot be scanned at all because they cannot lie flat. Patients with this limitation can now achieve the scans they need by Upright MR. Upright MR imaging would permit their right ventricle chamber size to be measured sitting to determine if pulmonary hypertension exists and to assess its severity.

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