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Comment by zeugma | Hacker News Reader

Yeah MRI machine are definitively cavemen technology (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_resonance_imaging#Phys...) you should help

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Well, yeah, I know, magnetic resonance is a mighty cool hack. I was just hoping that it could be maybe, you know, a bit smaller. Not costing as much as a first class ticket from NY to Tokyo for a trip through one might be a nice touch as well.

Hell, lets just go all sci-fi and get right to the part where there's an iphone app for waving over a person and seeing their insides in full color in real time...

Isn't it much cheaper in countries like in Japan? I heard it was under $100 to get scanned.

It is certainly much cheaper here in Australia, the cost is several hundred dollars. There are MRI machines available in just about every major suburb.

In Japan MRI is covered by public insurance. You only need to pay around $60-$80.

For a low quality scan (resolution about 1/3 what you get in the US). A 2 tesla scan (what you get in the US) will cost the same as in the US (though the government may subsidize it).

I've heard it suggested that Japan got "scan-happy" (patients want a scan, kind of like how US patients want antibiotics for their virus), so they built cheapo MRIs to give them what they want.

Thanks for the info. I didn't know.

I don't think you should have been voted down for that. As a physics minor, I have to say that MRIs are some of the coolest things I've ever come across. The leap to their invention was brilliant.

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