News - Royal
visit to inaugurate new 3T MRI scanner at
NSE
5 October 2004
The Royal visit to mark the inauguration
of the new 3T magnetic resonance imaging
scanner took place at the National
Society of Epilepsy (NSE) in Chalfont
St. Peter in Buckinghamshire on Tuesday
5 October 2004. HRH The Countess of Wessex
officially inaugurated the scanner and spent
an hour at the site in which she spoke to
residents of the NSE centre and scientists
working with the scanner. Trustee Barrie
Akin and Isabella von Holstein, Research
and Information Executive, attended the
event on behalf of the Epilepsy Research
Foundation and were presented to the Countess.
The new scanner was purchased in part by
a successful bid to the Big Lottery Fund
by the NSE and the Epilepsy Research Foundation. The new scanner
has twice the power of the old one and produces
sharper images more quickly. The aims of
the NSE's research programme are:
To identify the causes of epilepsy and
to pinpoint abnormalities in the structure
and function of the brain that may be
amenable to surgical treatment.
To find out how normal brain functions
are affected by epilepsy and by medical
and surgical treatment of epilepsy, to
target treatment effectively and to minimise
the risks of treatment having adverse
effects.
To determine whether recurrent epileptic
seizures damage the brain.
To identify the chemical abnormalities
in the brain that may underlie epilepsy,
and which may assist in finding the most
effective treatment.
The research programme is driven by the
NSE and the Department of Epilepsy of the
Institute of Neurology, University College
London. The collaboration with the Epilepsy Research Foundation
ensures the widest dissemination of the
research results and their potential application
to other patient groups.
The NSE and the Epilepsy Research Foundation jointly oversee
the research projects carried out on the
scanner. The scanner can be made available
for research projects to other groups in
the UK - click
here to apply to use the scanner.
