By Rachel Batten | The Daily Mississippian
The North Mississippi Baptist Memorial Hospital Diagnostic Center recently acquired a new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine that features the most recent technology available.
The machine, which helps physicians to internally examine patients, features a more spacious design than a standard MRI machine, allowing more room for patients.
The Magnetom Espree 1.5 became available for patient use in November 2009. It is one of the few Open Bore machines available in Mississippi.
Will Gossett, imaging manager of the hospital’s Diagnostic Center, said the new machine features benefit in patient comfort and medical technology.
“The Magnetom has the ability to create images that are nearly three times greater than images we have been able to produce in the past,” he said. “These high quality images are helping us to have the most accurate diagnosis for our patients.”
The machine combines a high-field 1.5T magnet with an open MRI to produce the higher quality images.
“This technology has allowed us to have a more advanced system for scanning patients’ arteries, as well as other benefits,” Gossett said.
The new MRI machine also saves time for patients.
The design of the Magnetom allows doctors to give patients a single-organ scan or scan the patient’s entire body.
Gossett said the Magnetom can do a full body scan at one time without having to stop the machine.
This 30-minute procedure is faster than old MRI scanners in which patients had to get parts of their body scanned separately.
With the Open Bore design, the majority of scans can be performed on patients while their head remains outside of the machine, allowing them to feel less confined.
“This design is especially great for claustrophobic patients because it is much farther away from their face,” Gossett said. “Many scans can also be done feet first with the Open Bore technology, which typically makes patients feel more relaxed.”
The machine is also large enough to assist patients who need body scans but have to remain attached to medical equipment.
With the extra room available to them, the procedure can be done without the equipment hindering the scan.
According to Gossett, the Diagnosis Center may be getting another Magnetom Espree 1.5 within the year.
“I am getting ready to go to medical school and I am excited that technology as developed as the Magnetom is what I will be working with,” Ole Miss student Elaine Holtzman said. “I believe these machines are just a start of what is to come in the future of health care.”
