host posted on August 11, 2010 13:27
To ensure the region’s health consumers receive the highest standards in quality care, Midland MRI has just completed a major upgrade of its Waikato Hospital site. GE’s 3 Tesla Discovery MR750 MRI scanner was chosen to complement the recently upgraded GE 1.5T scanner located at Anglesea Clinic.
This is the first private 3T MRI to be installed in New Zealand in a public hospital setting.
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| GE’s 3T has multiple potential benefits, including: Increase in signal compared with 1.5T MR; Improvement in image quality and resolution; Increased in-plane resolution or decreased slice thickness; Increased SNR and higher spatial resolution resulting in improved image clarity and diagnostic strength. |
The addition of new imaging equipment in a highly accessible part of the hospital will provide important new imaging capabilities and improved care for patients referred both privately and via the Waikato District Health Board.
“The depth of information varies substantially depending upon which MRI system is being used,” Operations Manager Stephen Butler said. “While many healthcare centres offer MRI, there are vast differences in image quality and applications.”
State of the art technology in the new 3T scanner delivers strong whole-body gradients, resulting in fast and highly accurate reproducible scans in high definition, providing radiologists the ability to see smaller structures. This powerful technology delivers outstanding images in body, musculoskeletal, neurological, vascular, cardiac and pediatric imaging. The resulting highly detailed images will help physicians to make a more confident diagnosis.
The 3T offers substantial benefits for MRI patients including:
- increased comfort,
- reduced exam times,
- faster scan set ups and
- less need for rescanning due to patient movement.
“The 3T simplifies exams while improving diagnostic quality . . . making critical imaging processes as comfortable as possible for our patients.”
The system also allows for up to five times the imaging performance over previous generations, increasing the freedom for advanced application development.
The expansion will strengthen Midland MRI’s ability to providing leading-edge medical imaging and better serve patients in the treatment of a wide range of diseases, including neuro, body and musculoskeletal conditions.
“The 3T MR750 will help simplify exams while improving diagnostic quality,” Stephen Butler said. “The addition of this powerful new imaging tool is part of our ongoing effort to use the very best technology available, making critical imaging processes as accurate and comfortable as possible for our patients.”