FONAR NEWS-101111

Breakthrough in Multiple Sclerosis Achieved by FONAR UPRIGHT MRI
Announced at UC San Diego Medical Center

MELVILLE, NEW YORK, October 11, 2011 - FONAR Corporation (NASDAQ-FONR), The Inventor of MR Scanning™ said today that the announcement of the “Major Diagnostic Breakthrough in Multiple Sclerosis Achieved With Advanced UPRIGHT® MRI” was first announced at a Radiology Department Grand Rounds at the University of California San Diego Medical Center. Raymond Damadian, M.D., president and founder of FONAR delivered the grand rounds to the assembly on October 4.

William G. Bradley, Jr., M.D., Ph.D., F.A.C.R., Chairman of the Department of Radiology, and a Professor of Radiology at UCSD School of Medicine introduced Dr. Damadian to his colleagues at grand rounds. Dr. Bradley said, “Dr. Damadian has shown that 8 patients with MS had degenerative changes in their cervical spines which impinged on the spinal canal and limited the pulsatile, to-and-fro flow of cervical CSF over the cardiac cycle, as demonstrated on UPRIGHT® MRI. His hypothesis that increased resistance to outflow of CSF is linked to the etiology of MS has some similarities to Dr. P. Zamboni’s hypothesis that MS is due to the impeded outflow of venous blood from the brain due to dural sinus stenoses. In both theories, increased resistance to outflow of either CSF or venous blood would be expected to modify the intracranial pressure wave over the cardiac cycle. While both theories need to be further tested with larger controlled studies, it is intriguing that they seem to invoke similar pathologic changes. Whether these changes are etiologic in all cases of MS remains to be tested.”

Dr. Damadian delivered the approximately 60 minute lecture to the group at grand rounds. He showed many of the 79 MRI images that are part of the publication titled “The Possible Role of Cranio-Cervical Trauma and Abnormal CSF Hydrodynamics in the Genesis of Multiple Sclerosis." This article has just been published and appears in the latest issue of the journal Physiological Chemistry and Physics and Medical NMR (Sept. 20, 2011, 41: 1-17). It is co-authored by Dr. Damadian and fellow MRI researcher David Chu, Ph.D.

The announcement of the “Major Diagnostic Breakthrough in Multiple Sclerosis Achieved With Advanced UPRIGHT® MRI” was made on October 5, 2011 and can be seen at: www.fonar.com.

William G. Bradley, Jr, MD, PhD, FACR, is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Radiology at University of California, San Diego. He received his BS at the California Institute of Technology and his PhD at Princeton University, both in Chemical Engineering. He completed all his medical training (MD, internship, and Diagnostic Radiology residency) at the University of California, San Francisco.

While at UCSF in the late 1970s, Dr. Bradley first became involved in magnetic resonance imaging, initially “translating” the physics of MRI for other radiologists. His subsequent research has been focused on MRI of flow phenomena, hemorrhage, stroke, and normal pressure hydrocephalus as well as other topics involving MRI of the brain. He has published more than 180 papers, 52 chapters, and 20 textbooks, including the primary general MRI text in the field, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 3rd edition (Stark DD, Bradley WG, eds; Mosby, St Louis, 1999). He is on the Editorial Boards of 10 scientific journals and was a charter member of an NIH Study Section (BMIT) from 2004-2008.

Dr. Bradley is past president of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) and has won its 2 highest honors for his research (Gold Medal [SMRM] and Honorary Member [SMRI]). He was on the Board of Trustees of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Research and Education Foundation (1995–2001) and served as the Chairman of the Fund Development Committee of that organization from 1996 to 2008. He was honored with the Gold Medal of the RSNA in 2003. Dr. Bradley was also on the Board of Chancellors of the American College of Radiology, where he chaired the Commission on Neuroradiology and MRI from 1999 to 2005 and served as Vice President 2005-6. He is currently on the Boards of the Clinical MR Society and the International Society for Strategic Studies in Radiology.

FONAR (NASDAQ:FONR) was incorporated in 1978, making it the first, oldest and most experienced MRI company in the industry. FONAR introduced the world’s first commercial MRI in 1980, and went public in 1981. Since its inception, nearly 300 recumbent-OPEN MRIs and 150 UPRIGHT® Multi-Position™ MRI scanners worldwide have been installed. FONAR’s stellar product line includes the Upright™ MRI (also known as the Stand-Up™ MRI), the only whole-body MRI that performs Position™ imaging (pMRI™) 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® MRI often sees the patient’s problem that other scanners cannot because they are lie-down only. The patient-friendly UPRIGHT® MRI has a near zero claustrophobic rejection rate by patients. As a 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 is headquartered on Long Island, New York.

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's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.