On the Move: Portable MRI for children

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Whether it’s the brain, spine, joints, tissues, or organs, 10 million people will get an MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging. It’s a diagnostic imaging procedure that uses a powerful magnet, radio frequencies and a computer to produce images for doctors to get a detailed look at what’s happening inside the body. But for children, getting an MRI can be downright terrifying, until now.

Pediatric neurosurgeon at Wolfson Children’s Hospital, Dr. Alexandra Beier, explains, “Unfortunately, a lot of the patients that we take care of are either really small or they’re really sick.”

So sick that Dr. Beier says, moving these children to a room with an MRI can be risky.

“There’s a lot of patients, especially the cardiac patients, where they cannot physically be moved, and even our severe traumatic brain injury patients where you know every time you move them, you’re risking increased pressure to their brain,” Dr. Beier further explains.

The standard MRI looks like a tunnel – it’s big, immobile and often causes anxiety and discomfort for kids. But there’s a new smaller, portable MRI machine.

Dr. Beier demonstrates to Ivanhoe, “This was one of the first scans we used the hyper fine swoop MRI for. And it was very nice because the patient was very small and we did not want to transport him because he was having seizures and there was a lot of risk with transporting him. So, we’re able to do it right at the bedside.”

The magnet in the mobile unit is less powerful.

“It’s basically as strong as a refrigerator magnet,” Dr. Beier mentions.

The time it takes is cut down from an hour to 35 minutes.

Dr. Beier makes clear that, “It would never replace a full MRI, it would just add to the ability to do the information at the bedside.”

Doctors believe that the portable MRI will have far-reaching implications beyond pediatrics. The aim is enhance access to diagnostic imaging for patients of all ages.

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