Improved MRI Cervical Spine

Posted in MRI Case Studies | 0 comments

Improved MRI Cervical Spine

Cervical and Lumbar Spines are some of the bread and butter imaging of MRI centers. If these scans are not the best they can be, you will lose business.

 

Both images passed ACR accreditation, but the image on the right has signficantly more  SNR and is a better image.  Notice the graininess of the image on the left, which even demonstrates a grainy texture inside the cord and into the medulla-oblongota in the brain. It might be difficult for a radiologist to determine pathology inside this area without adequate signal from the sampled tissue.

The improved MRI cervical spine image on the right was also twenty-six seconds faster for that particular sequence.  When you include the entire series of images, the entire scan set was shortened by 8.4%  in time, which meant every patient spent almost two minutes shorter in the MRI scanner.

Because the scans were shorter, there was less motion, and more successful completion of better quality images with an improved MRI c-spine study.  This exam is one of the most popularly ordered exams in the magnetic resonance imaging departments, and sometimes one of the most difficult to complete without patient motion.

 

 

Talking to the patients between mri sequences is important, by notifying them how long each sequence is going to run. Most of the sequences run for several minutes at a time. Talking often soothes the anxious patient, and sometimes, they exit the scanner after having counted the actual seconds the sequence was running.   “Quiet breathing” is recommended

Improved MRI Cervical Spine