Riverview Health’s new MRI reduces exam times

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CIN HEALTH 1107 riverview MRI machine
The new Toshiba Titan 1.5 MRI machine at Riverview Health. (Submitted photo)

A new state-of-the-art MRI machine is helping Riverview Health patients’ comfort level during the magnetic resonance imaging scan.

The Toshiba Vantage Titan 1.5T MRI was delivered July 31. Technical installation was completed Sept. 18, with test patients and application training from Sept. 18 to 30. Patients began using the new MRI Oct. 1 at the Noblesville hospital.

Megan Wiles, executive director of Riverview Health Foundation, said the foundation raised more than $700,000 to purchase the MRI.

“T-slip technology is a new and promising method for non-contrast MR angiography developed by Toshiba,” said Stevie Aley, MRI supervisor at Riverview Health. “T-slip is a time spatial labeling inversion pulse that provides visualization of bright blood vessels without having to inject a special dye for vascular diagnosis. This is a very helpful tool in obtaining large vessel anatomy imaging on patients with low renal functions that cannot have contrast.”

Aley said the average scan time on the older MRI was 45 to 60 minutes.

“With the new Toshiba, the average scan time is 30 to 45 minutes, depending on patient cooperation and the physician’s order,” she said. “Extensive or multiple MRIs will still take time to get a conclusive adequate study.”

The Titan 1.5T MRI is the shortest magnet with the largest clinical field of view currently available in the industry. The first Titan was released in 2012 with many updates since then.

“Riverview Health is one of the first sites nationwide to receive the newest 4.0 software package,” Aley said. “”The magnet is only 1.4 meters in length, and is 71 centimeters in circumference, which is an 18 percent larger opening than other 1.5T systems. Many of the exams can now be done with the patient being put in feet first helping with claustrophobia. It is built with patient care as the main focus by increasing comfort for bariatric patients with a table weight limit up to 440 pounds. Another major improvement by Toshiba is less scanning noise. Quiet technology called Pianissimo has vacuumed the gradients of the MRI to reduce acoustic noise. Music of choice is also provided to the patient through headphones or earbuds to help make the exam more comfortable.”

With the addition of the new MRI, Riverview Health now has two machines, which allows more access for patients requiring testing. When Riverview Health Westfield Hospital opens in 2018, the imaging center there will have the same MRI machine.

 


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