MRI in France: the French paradox

Although France is a modern, developed country, which spends nearly 10% of the gross national product on healthcare and has a highly praised level of medicine, the number of modem Imaging scanners, such as CT (595), MRI (182) , and PET (5), is quite low when compared to other European countries. Poli tics and a long-standing tradition of centralization are prominent among re asons for such an underdevelopment. This situation has resulted in another French paradox not linked to wine consumption. The French fife expectancy i s very high, but the number of Imaging equipment Is very low. (C) 2001 Wile y-Liss, Inc.