Short Bore Machine for MRI ?

[sllowe]

Hi All,

Anyone ever have their MRI's done on one of these before? Not me.  I'm told this one is a 1.5 high intensity, and that they can do "neat" new things on it.  ??  Read that they are shorter, and a little wider.  

That's it, that's all I know.  Of course, I wanted my 2nd set on a 3.0, but did not feel like pressing the issue.  I did speak w/the guy who lined up my date (May 20) and said, "so I hear you are doing neat new things?" Asked him what they were, he said, "trade secret" and that "we can talk about it when you get here."

So family, any thoughts?
-SL
p.s. I used all of your excellent advice when lining up the t-spine too (wasn't originally ordered) and bada bing! Good to go!

[sllowe]

Hey Girl,

You disappear already?  Have a quick question for you if you have the time.

I was wondering, how 2 different facilities compare scans?  Should I bring my old films and the reports with me? Would this group order them up themselves from the other place?

Mine is scheduled for next Tuesday, and I've got questions!  Hope you can help.

Also, doublevision (db) has been looking for someone who has experienced Brigham.  Did you like it there??

Thanks,
-SL

[tarapags1107]

hey, no problem.
           Yea isn't it ironic..... Im an MRI tech.  Thank you for commenting on my post also.  Yea the funny thing is that I knew what my MRI of my brain/spine looked like before I even saw a doctor and told him it was negative when he asked me if I had ever had one.  I responded "not a legit one, my friends have thrown me in the scanner on downtime."  He just chuckled and said he wanted one read by the radiologist which I can't blame him, but I was right with it being negative.... LOL...

[sllowe]

Thanks so much for the info!

We've brought up MS dx w/out lesions lately. I'll look for the thread and bump it up as soon as I can.

You work on these amazing machines huh? Boy, are you going to get alot of questions! lol...

welcome,
-SL

[tarapags1107]

Hey there SL-
          I work on one of these 1.5 T short bore machines.  They are called an "open" high field magnet because they are more open (2 feet wider and 4 feet shorter) then the original 1.5T "closed" magnets.  Don't get me wrong, they still look like a tube, but more like a CT scanner than the conventional MRI machine.  However, you still have to wear the head camera or "coil" over your head which makes most people claustrophobic, and the neck piece for the cervical/thoracic spine MRIS.   Definately a major improvement.  The only downside to these magnets is that scanning long bones (such as your femur or lower leg), the bore is too short so the images come out with signal falloff or "black/cupped areas" on the images.  But it is excellent for all neuro spine and brain scans.     I myself, went on a 3T magnet at the Brigham and Womens hospital in mass and that was pretty interesting.  The images are very sharp and give great detail on the nerve roots, but are not usually necesssary to see MS.  I had to go because my MS specialist could not see any plaques on the 1.5T and wanted to see if a higher field strength magnet would show lesions.  Mine never did show any lesions to this date, but I was still diagnosed with MS due to 2 positive spinal taps with a high number of oligoclonal bands.  Good luck with your scan!  Keep us posted.
          Tara

[sllowe]

quick bump, just incase someone has any info or experience w/these machines, if so, let me know

-SL