First mock MRI scanner open for bookings

First mock MRI scanner open for bookings

The country’s first mock MRI scanner that enables children or adults to experience a test run MRI, opened for bookings at the University of Auckland recently.

The mock MRI is housed in the Centre for Advanced MRI at the University’s Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences.

The full-scale 1.5 Tesla scanner - without a magnetic field - will enable children requiring an MRI scan for clinical or research purposes to become familiar with the noisy and confined environment of the scanner.

“It is hoped that it will reduce the need for general anaesthesia in some young or anxious children requiring a clinical MRI,” says the operations manager at the CAMRI, Shireen Nanayakkara-McDonald.

“Researchers will also benefit as the mock scanner environment provides a realistic way to practise any tasks expected of children or adults undergoing MRI for research purposes.”

Patients are offered an explanation of the procedure and then go through an MRI rehearsal in which they must lie still in the scanner.

A CD of MR sounds is played insider the scanner during the practice session. The entire process usually takes up to 30 minutes and is led by a radiographer, play therapist, or researcher.

If the patient can successfully lie still in the scanner, they are then booked for an MR exam without sedation (adults) or general anaesthesia (children).

The mock scanner was gifted by Siemens and the facility refurbishment funded by Auckland UniServices Ltd, the commercial arm of the University of Auckland.

ENDS

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