Matthaei studied physics and medicine at the universities of Berlin and Göttingen. In 1977, he received his doctorate from the
University of Göttingen. He was from 1983 to 1987 a research associate at the Max-Planck-Institut für biophysikalische Chemie in Göttingen and is now medical specialist for internal medicine in Göttingen.
Matthaei worked at the University of Göttingen and at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear magnetic resonance in biological systems. He was looking for a scientific development of
NMR techniques based on magnetic resonance imagery. With
Axel Haase and
Jens Frahm he succeeded in 1985 with the invention of rapid image proceedings
FLASH MRI (fast low angle shot) a revolutionary breakthrough that allows the use of MRI imaging for clinical diagnosis. It enabled the first real coherent representation of body functions.
He is the founder and editor of Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine (MAGMA).
Sources
Matthaei, Dieter; Frahm, Jens; Haase, Axel; Hanicke, Wolfgang (1985). "REGIONAL PHYSIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS DEPICTED BY SEQUENCES OF RAPID MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGES". The Lancet. 326 (8460). Elsevier BV: 893.
doi:
10.1016/s0140-6736(85)90158-8.
ISSN0140-6736.
Matthaei, D; Haase, A; Frahm, J; Schuster, R; Bomsdorf, H (1985). "CHEMICAL-SHIFT-SELECTIVE MAGNETIC-RESONANCE IMAGING OF AVASCULAR NECROSIS OF THE FEMORAL HEAD". The Lancet. 325 (8425). Elsevier BV: 370–371.
doi:
10.1016/s0140-6736(85)91388-1.
ISSN0140-6736.
Haase, A; Frahm, J; Matthaei, D; Hanicke, W; Merboldt, K.-D (1986). "FLASH imaging. Rapid NMR imaging using low flip-angle pulses". Journal of Magnetic Resonance. 67 (2). Elsevier BV: 258–266.
doi:
10.1016/0022-2364(86)90433-6.
ISSN0022-2364. (first scientific publication of FLASH)
Frahm J, Haase A, Hänicke W, Merboldt KD, Matthaei D. Hochfrequenz-Impuls und Gradienten-Impuls-Verfahren zur Aufnahme von schnellen NMR-Tomogrammen unter Benutzung von Gradientenechos. Deutsche Patentanmeldung P 35 04 734.8 vom 12. Februar 1985