MRI Unit for the National Society for Epilepsy

A step forward in the fight against epilepsy was taken with the opening of a purpose-built epilepsy research and treatment centre at the National Centre for Epilepsy. The building houses the world’s first Magnetic Resonance Imaging Unit dedicated exclusively to research into epilepsy.

The MRI Unit is a 38-ton scanner which produces pictures of the brain to help the diagnosis if a person’s epilepsy has a structural cause. It shows details of brain structure as small as one millimetre and the brain can be viewed at all angles and in three dimensions. It was a requirement that the scanner be installed in a building that excludes all other magnetic influences and provides a complete shield from Radio Frequency Interference, thus ensuring that medical measurements are of the highest integrity.

In addition to the practical requirements of the brief, the building was required to fit within the sensitive context of the Edwardian architecture of the headquarters of the National Society for Epilepsy.

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