MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING CENTER ANNOUNCES STATE OF THE ART MRI SYSTEM

CLINTON , IOWA - Clinton Imaging Services, LLC, an MRI facility located within Mercy Medical Center, offers new applications with a state of the art imaging system.

The system arrived at Clinton Imaging Services on Thursday, May 9, 2002. The unit is housed in the new addition to Mercy Medical Center, adjacent to the radiology department.

Hailed as one the most important medical breakthroughs in terms of both image clarity and patient safety, MR is providing information not available through previous radiation-based imaging techniques such as X-ray and computerized tomography (CT scanning)

The SIEMENS SYMPHONY 1.5 TESLA MRI unit operates with the most advanced computer hardware and software commercially available today.

It is a high-field, short bore magnet which has several advantages over a so-called "OPEN" MRI unit. During the early years of clinical MRI it was found that many patients could not tolerate being inside the magnet due to a fear of close spaces. The new MRI systems are designed with a larger opening and are much shorter than the old scanners, and patients with claustrophobia are able to tolerate the scans much better with this new feature.

The MR imaging (MRI) technique is based on the property of sending low energy radio waves into a patient lying in a strong magnetic field. Normal and diseased tissues re-emit the radio waves at different rates, providing the basis for differentiation.

MRI has experienced widespread use in diagnosing diseases of the central nervous system since its inception in the 1980s. Spinal cord deterioration and tumors of the brain are especially well visualized with MR. It was the first method to visualize multiple sclerosis.

Orthopedic MRI is the only imaging modality to provide simultaneous, non-invasive visualization of cartilage, ligaments, bone, muscle, fat, and menisci. Disorders of the knees,. Shoulders, and the temporo-mandibular joint (TMJ) may be diagnosed with results comparable or superior to currently employed methods such as arthroscopy.

MR Angiography (MRA) is an exciting new application pioneered on the Siemens MRI systems offering visualization of blood flow in the head, neck, great vessels, abdomen, and extremities. It may be used to visualize aneurysms, stenoses (narrowing) and occlusions.

While MRI may be used to visualize soft tissue anywhere in the body, motion will interfere with the clarity of the MR image. Therefore, organs that move during normal respiration such as the heart and liver require new techniques, available on this MRI system, that will stop this involuntary motion. Advanced software on the SYMPHONY MRI system allows very rapid imaging fore these expanding applications.

New MRI technology allows for the earliest detection of stroke in the brain by using a technique called diffusion.

The powerful computer hardware provides the operator with an additional ability of reformatting specially acquired image data in three-dimensional views and also viewing of planes reformatted from the originally acquired slices.

Once the MR unit is up-and-running, CLINTON IMAGING SERVICES, LLC expects to image approximately 8 patients daily with that number being increased as the medical community in the Clinton area becomes aware that this advanced MRI technology is available to them.

Providing the most up-to-date, high quality, patient diagnostic techniques is the best way CLINTON IMAGING SERVICES can serve the community.