Dolphins swimming underwater, jet planes whizzing overhead, and monkeys climbing up palm trees are just some of the images patients are now seeing at Strong Memorial Hospital as it introduces the region's first "open" high-field magnetic resonance (MRI) scanner.
The scanner is housed in a room equipped with a specialized lighting and audio/visual package designed to relax patients while being scanned. Strong is the first in New York state with such a system, and one of only four hospitals in the entire Northeast region with this unique program.
According to David Waldman, M.D., Ph.D., chairman of the Department of Imaging Sciences at the University of Rochester Medical Center, traditional MRI machines can be intimidating to some patients. Often, adult patients require medication to keep them calm and still enough to obtain a high quality image. Sedation is required for young children.
The "open" MRI scanner is built differently than traditional scanners. Rather than placing patients within a tunnel to be imaged, the open MRI features two open circular planes, between which the body area being scanned is placed. The sides are completely open, accessible and unobstructed - a great relief for patients who are claustrophobic.
"Our new open MRI machine offers new possibilities for many adult and pediatric patients," Waldman said. "Its high-field strength magnet produces superior images to conventional low-field open MRI scanners, while the open configuration of the machine, combined with a unique room design, lighting and other audio-visual effects, can make scanning possible without medication or sedation."