MRI scan
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John WILLIAMS (8368) 493 posts |
Had an MRI scan today. An experience not particularly well-described in the “infos”. If anyone is about to undergo such a thing, I could describe my experience to them. petit.four.(at).free.fr May allay fears, prepare for what is an unusual experience! Less stressful than anticipated, but better with “notes”, perhaps! John |
Andreas Skyman (8677) 170 posts |
I had an MRI scan this summer and am scheduled for another in January. I actually enjoyed the experience, but that may be just me. Happy to answer any questions, either here, by mail or on ChatCube. |
Rick Murray (539) 13806 posts |
Some mom wisdom:
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Grahame Parish (436) 480 posts |
After a pancreatic cyst a few years ago I had a whole series of scans for the first time – ultrasound, X-ray, MRI, CT and endoscopy. A couple of the MRI scans included an injection of Gadolinium during the scan via a cannula in the arm to give contrast. They inform you that the injection is about to happen and within a second or two there’s a very warm feeling in the groin as if you’d wet yourself! For the endoscopy (oral) I was given a sedative to relax me to make it easier. The nurse said it will be like a G&T. I had the injection, the guide piece was put in my mouth and I laid on my side on the bed. Next thing I knew, I was waking up in a side ward – I know nothing about the camera going into me at all. If that’s what G&T does to me, I’m steering clear of them! |
Frederick Bambrough (1372) 837 posts |
I’m ok with MRIs. It’s angiograms that disturb me. Having a complete stranger manhandling one’s testicles whilst wielding a scalpel. The next bit’s ok, watching the pretty pictures of my brain under sedative & oxygen. Next! |
Steve Pampling (1551) 8155 posts |
It’s sitting inside a ring magnet with a pulsed electromagnetic field applied at an angle to the base magnetic field provided by the ring magnet. The atomic nuclei spin and thus generate a small field which aligns with the high strength applied field (static) or the electromagnetically generated field (dynamic). The application and release of the dynamic field results in a change of the spin pole direction which is known as Larmor precession during which the nucleus emits a pulse of energy with a frequency determined by the size of the nucleus (basic which element) and the bonds to adjacent atoms. 1 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging – people didn’t like “Nuclear” so they dropped the “N” |
Steve Pampling (1551) 8155 posts |
They don’t absolutely have to go in through the groin, but it’s a convenient entry point for most purposes. “Medical dyno-rod” I called it when speaking to a former head of the Cardiac Catheter Suite, shortly after he’d put IT down as low-level admin support.
“Brain” … “angiogram” ?? Thinking with your heart?, still with the starting point of the dyno-rod it could be worse :) |
Rick Murray (539) 13806 posts |
Which is medical speak for:
;-) |
Frederick Bambrough (1372) 837 posts |
Yup. It can be used to check the blood vessels in the brain too. |
Steve Pampling (1551) 8155 posts |
I was expecting the heart because of the starting point, I thought they went in around the armpit for the head work. 1 The last time I saw the inside of one of our operating theatres was the week before Christmas, and I was sat on my sofa while a departmental colleague showed me the problem over Teams on his smartphone. |
Andreas Skyman (8677) 170 posts |
So bloody cool! The fact that the image is taken directly in the Fourier plane is just delicious. I love MRI… I should have gone for a career in medical physics rather than fusion. |
Steve Pampling (1551) 8155 posts |
Hospitals, hours are long for pretty much everyone even pre-covid. But I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. |
Frederick Bambrough (1372) 837 posts |
Perhaps I got the trainee. No-one told him. |
Steve Pampling (1551) 8155 posts |
:) Although, close to possible. There are medical students working, we’ve got contractors doing some of the hands on IT under our supervision. There’s no extra admin staff1 1 Would you honestly want more? |
John McCartney (426) 143 posts |
I had a heart attack at 1230 (lunchtime) on Friday 9th December 2005. The consultant, Dr H, was a woman with a very high reputation among her colleagues. She went in through my groin without any trouble for either of us. She was surprised to find that my arteries were quite clear – apart from one little section about a millimetre in extent. Eventually I was sent to Stoke for a stent to be fitted. The consultant there (one of Dr H’s colleagues (Dr A) had taken over while she went to Iraq with the Territorials). He saw me before the procedure and took my pulse. “That’s a good strong pulse”, he remarked, “I think I’ll go in through the radial artery.” “Well”, says I, “that was a waste of a disposable razor, wasn’t it?” Grins by both parties. The following half hour or so was fascinating. Seeing your own heart beating on the monitor is amazing, even more so when the contrast die is injected. I lit up like a Christmas tree! Apart from the fact that I’d need to have another heart attack, I wouldn’t mind seeing it again. |
Steve Pampling (1551) 8155 posts |
A work colleague was walking in to work one morning, decided he really felt bad with chest pain; so he walked past the building, across the road, up the ramp and into A&E. By lunchtime he had done a tour of the imaging dept. and cardiac theatres and was sitting in bed with 3 stents fitted.
I think I will pass on that experience. I had the cataract done under GA, I’d have passed out when they started if it had been a local. |
Clive Semmens (2335) 3276 posts |
Seeing your own heart beating on the monitor is amazing, even more so when the contrast die is injected. Me too likewise. I’ve had two operations under general anaesthetic in recent years: an inguinal hernia repair, and a subcutaneous heart loop monitor insertion. At 14 I had a general to have a toenail bed removed after repeated ingrowing toenails. I had a vaso-vagal episode when they inserted a cannula in my arm before the monitor insertion, and they had to delay the op while I recovered – moved me from number 1 in the morning’s queue to number 5. |
John McCartney (426) 143 posts |
That’s closer to what would have happened to me if I’d had the heart attack in the last couple of years. As this was 2005, my timeline was:
The only reason they couldn’t have done all this at Telford is because they didn’t have the facilities to do open-heart surgery if something had gone wrong. Now, all heart-attacks and strokes go straight to Stoke, I believe. |
Steve Pampling (1551) 8155 posts |
Was 3 Cath labs, now 4 but with 1 out of use undergoing update. That state continues until all 4 are at the new standard.
Common at bank holidays – there’s an explanation I’ve heard, and it doesn’t paint granny/grandads relatives in a good light.
Stoke? Wolverhampton is far closer physically and about half the travel time. |
John McCartney (426) 143 posts |
I’m tempted to make a comment about the bleedin’ obvious but I won’t. Though only about 12 miles from the centre of Wolverhampton, it’s a bit further to Newcross Hospital where the parking is atrocious. For this reason alone I’m glad that my local NHS trust chose Stoke. Currently (just looked it up), there are arrangements with Stoke, Wolverhampton and Birmingham for cardiac procedures which might result in the need for open-heart surgery. |
Chris Hughes (2123) 336 posts |
I can’t ever have an MRI scan, only CT scans with care, due to my two pacemakers etc in me. I managed to pull one of the pacemaker wires out of my heart a few days before I was due for a new pacemaker (I am offically pacemaker dependant), as a result when I was being worked on it caused chaos – 30 mins operation became 4 and half hours – I wiped the rest of the day surgery operations out, they ended up putting an external pacemaker into me via the groin. Wakefield hospital was not setup for possible open heart surgery and ended up being transferred to the LGI (Leeds Genral Infirmary) under blue lights. They then decided I only had a 15% chance of survival if they had to do open heart surgery on me and opted for the second pacemaker in other shoulder, but while waiting for that operation, got an infection (MRSA). After that was treated got my second pacemaker a week later. |
Steve Pampling (1551) 8155 posts |
I would say that urgent cases come in by ambulance and the parking for them is…
At one time (last century) there were just two centres for heart surgery in the midlands. Walsgrave (Coventry) and QE (Birmingham), there was an 80/20 split of funds and workload. We move on, and it’s all so much more routine. 1 That was QE 80% funds and 20% workload, Walsgrave 80% workload and 20% funds. QE was a teaching hospital, Walsgrave was not. We move on Walsgrave is now UHCW and a teaching hospital. |
John WILLIAMS (8368) 493 posts |
Why don’t they provide noise-cancelling headphones where they currently provide pathetic and pointless ones? I know they’re not cheap, but compared to the scanner itself… |
Steve Pampling (1551) 8155 posts |
Noise-cancelling headphones? |
Rick Murray (539) 13806 posts |
Things that work with electromagnetic fields, exposed to an electromagnetic field that’s akin to comparing a tangerine to a jumbo jet. Wouldn’t end well. |
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