St. Mary's Is Only Medical Facility Offering 3T MRI Scanner
02/23/2010
 St. Mary’s Health System enthusiastically announces a major milestone in Imaging Services with the installation of a state-of-the art 3.0 Tesla (3T) MRI scanner, located at St. Mary’s Medical Center. This high-powered MRI offers superior medical diagnostic capabilities usually found only in elite teaching hospitals and medical schools.
“The 3T MRI scanner offers much higher resolution and greater contrast, which means we can now detect much smaller abnormalities such as multiple sclerosis plaques, brain tumors and strokes that cannot be seen on a conventional 1.5T scanner. This improved detection capability can lead to earlier diagnosis. The addition of the 3T MRI to our array of advanced diagnostic tools will enable us to provide patients with significantly more sensitive and detailed brain, spine, musculoskeletal, abdominal and pelvic scans,” said Jeffrey Hemmerlein, MD, Neuroradiologist and Medical Director of St. Mary’s Imaging Services.
3T MRI is particularly beneficial to patients with kidney disease. For certain MRI exams, patients receive an injection of a dye known as a contrast agent. This enhances the images so the radiologist can view them more clearly. Many patients with impaired renal function cannot be given contrast agents. Advances in 3T MRI allow certain exams, such as MRA (magnetic resonance angiography) of the renal structures to be performed without a contrast injection.
St. Mary’s is the only medical facility in Southern Indiana to offer a 3.0 Tesla (3T) MRI scanner. In fact, St. Mary’s is one of only five community-based hospitals in the country to offer the brand new GE 750 3.0 Tesla MRI scanner. The closest system of its kind is located in Michigan.
“St. Mary’s Center for Advanced Medicine already has the only 1.5 Tesla Open MRI in the area, which is particularly beneficial for patients who are highly claustrophobic and bariatric patients. Today, we have a total of three state-of-the art MRI scanners to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of our patients. Patients do not have to travel to the larger cities to receive the best in diagnostic imaging. It is right here in our own back yard,” says Julie Wolowitz, MHA, CRA, Director of St. Mary’s Imaging Services.
The 3T MRI has twice the field strength of most conventional MRI scanners, which typically operate at 1.5 Tesla. The 3T strength can increase the imaging resolution by 16 times. Tesla measures the magnetic field strength of the scanner and 3.0 Tesla is equivalent to roughly 60,000 times the earth’s magnetic field. The 3T MRI captures images with a level of detail and clarity never before possible. Its value is most significant in the area of brain, spine, body and musculoskeletal imaging.
St. Mary’s new MRI is also equipped with CinemaVision, a high-tech, virtual reality system that uses virtual glasses worn by the patient to help reduce anxiety and provide entertainment while having an MRI. A typical MRI is 30-45 minutes long and the patient must hold extremely still. The CinemaVision helps patients to relax during the test. Patients can listen to CDs, the radio or their iPod. They can also watch a relaxation video, a movie or cable TV. CinemaVision offers a two-way communication with the technologist, as the patient can see a picture of the technologist and talk to them through a device that looks much like a webcam.
The CinemaVision experience is similar to watching a high-resolution 62-inch screen from five-and-a-half feet away. CinemaVision can help eliminate appointment cancellations and sedation, as patients enjoy a stunning sight and sound experience. With CinemaVision, the patient wears a special type of headphones that are noise canceling, thus reducing the noises made by the MRI machine.
The 3.0 T system will provide increased diagnostic information to physicians and enhanced patient care. The addition of the 3T MRI scanner considerably strengthens St. Mary’s position as one of the top MRI and diagnostic centers in the region.
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