By Rob Robertson, The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.
May 15–Anyone yearning to know how a pimento must feel when it’s being stuffed inside an olive might ask a heavy person about the last time he had to get an MRI.
An MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) device looks something like a giant doughnut with a tongue depressor sticking out of the hole.
It is essentially a giant magnet wrapped around a sliding operating table that doctors use to take high-resolution pictures of patients’ innards.
“People who are large or claustrophobic may often be scared of getting an MRI because sometimes there’s very little room between the patient and the machine,” said Janet Hickman, COO of Diagnostic Imaging, PC. “Now that doesn’t have to be the case.”
Diagnostic Imaging is an outpatient imaging services provider that recently became the first imaging center in the Mid-South to use a new, state-of-the-art MRI that aims to make scanning a lot easier for patients of all sizes.
Diagnostic’s new Magnetom Espree MRI, built by Siemens, uses a more powerful 1.5 Tesla magnet to provide doctors with clearer images, even for the obese, and a larger “hole” that’s more comfortable for bigger patients or those who get anxious or claustrophobic.
Cindy Wilcox, one of the technicians who operate the machine, said patients who might have been afraid of getting an MRI are relieved when they see the new device.
“There’s a lot less anxiety when they actually see how much space they have,” Wilcox said. “With the old magnet we had to smush people down to get them in the machine sometimes.
“We’ve handled people up to 420 pounds already with this and they had plenty of room.”
Diagnostic Imaging provides MRI and CT (computed tomography) services, including lung screening, ultrasound, nuclear imaging, mammography, general radiography and fluoroscopy.
The 20-year-old business recently relocated its offices to the PennMarc Center in East Memphis, where an outer wall had to be knocked out in order to move the new $1.8 million MRI, which is about the size of a small car, into place.
“We basically had to build the office around the MRI and CT rooms,” Hickman said.
The new MRI replaced two magnets, a closed tunnel-type and an open system.
“We felt the new device met our needs in both areas,” Hickman said.
Accommodating larger patients was a factor in the decision to purchase the new machine, but claustrophobes — people with a fear of enclosed places — were more of a concern, Hickman said.
“We’re already seeing patients that thought they’d have problem with an MRI, but when they saw it thought, ‘Oh, well this won’t be a problem at all,'” Hickman said.
Siemens spokeswoman Anne Sheehan said the Espree’s improved technology makes the MRI experience easier for doctors too.
“Obese or claustrophobic patients prefer the open bore system, but open bores typically used weaker magnets that produced poorer images,” Sheehan said. “This is a new choice; it has the strength of the old closed units but is roomier for larger people.”
MRIs and CTs have been used by hospitals and, more recently, diagnostic imaging centers, for more than 20 years.
CTs, which use X-rays to produce images, are typically less bulky and more open than MRIs, as well as being faster at imaging — making them preferable in trauma cases.
MRIs were originally used mainly for brain and spinal conditions, but technology has advanced so that MRIs can be used for any manner of ailments.
“There’s virtually nowhere in the body that can’t be imaged,” Sheehan said, “and it’s done without X-rays or the risk of radiation, which makes a difference to patients.”
The Espree is being used equally between hospitals and independent imaging centers now, gradually replacing older magnets, Sheehan said.
Imaging centers like Diagnostic Imaging, however, offer more efficient service for non-critical cases.
In Memphis, the sixth-fattest city in America according to Men’s Health magazine, it makes sense for health-care providers to have medical equipment that can comfortably accommodate people of all sizes — not only for patients, but also for doctors looking for better technology to treat those patients, Hickman said.
“For the patients it’s a lot more comfortable now,” Hickman said. “And it’s easier on the doctors because the images are clearer, giving doctors more options when diagnosing their patients.
“Everybody wins.”
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