Company Blog and News

PIC now offers true bilateral breast MRI thanks to a recent upgrade to one of its scanners. The Vibrant technology that came with the recent $750,000.00 GE Excite upgrade allows diagnostic imaging of both breasts in one visit. Previously, MRI could only be done on one breast at a time, necessitating two scheduled appointments for PIC patients.

MRI image with color enhancement view on the Dynacad workstation demonstrates a left breast lesion

A new Dynacad workstation and its imaging software along with a new 8 channel breast coil work in conjuction with the upgrade to allow PIC to get the images.

Unlike conventional x-ray examinations and computed tomography (CT) scans, MRI does not depend on radiation. Instead, radio waves are directed at protons, the nuclei of hydrogen atoms, in a strong magnetic field.

The magnetic field is produced by passing an electric current through wire coils in the MRI unit. Other coils, such as the breast coils placed around each breast, send and receive radio waves. As you lie in the MRI machine, radio waves are directed at the protons in your body. In the magnetic field, protons change their position, producing signals that are detected by coils within the MRI unit.

A computer processes these signals and generates a three-dimensional representation of your body. Each image shows a thin horizontal slice of the breast tissue. A computer compiles the images, which can be studied from many different angles on a video monitor for evaluation. MRI scans produce hundreds of images that the radiologist reads and interprets.

Bilateral MRI of the breast has several uses, including:

• Detection of breast implant rupture
• Surgical planning for women with newly diagnosed or suspected breast cancer
• Monitoring treatment response for patients receiving preoperative chemotherapy

• A limited screening tool women who are at high risk breast cancer and are referred from genetic counseling

 

 

Providence Imaging Center (PIC) announces an exciting turn in patient care and diagnostic imaging excellence with the completion of two critical upgrades to its MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scanners.

At a cost of more than $1.4 million, we have substantially revamped our two 1.5 Tesla magnets and replaced them with new hardware and software to make them state of the art. With new capabilities of faster scan times and better signal, the end result is better pictures for our radiologists to interpret and for our referring clinicians to view.

The magnets are now GE Signa Excite HD 1.5 Tesla machines.

HD (high definition) MR offers:

• Improved image quality
• Two fast brain sequences that clean up motion artifact

• Alternative scanning strategies to minimize artifacts

 

The Excite technology reduces the time of many MRI exams, and at the same time improves image quality and opens a whole new suite of applications.

It may help patients who have difficulty holding their breath in certain abdominal procedures. Patients who may have difficulty staying still on the MRI table (i.e. Parkinson's patients) couldn't have brain scans before the arrival of this new technology (see pictures below).

Axial brain imaged without Excite technology	Axial image with Excite technology

We are also able to image both breasts at the same time with high resolution, eliminating the need for a woman to return for a second scan. MRI breast biopsy is available for the first time in Alaska with our DynaCAD workstation and breast biopsy array coil.

A typical head coil

The switch from four channel to eight channel provide a 40% increase in signal, and necessitated the purchase of eight new coils (the equipment an MRI uses to "listen" for signal that is around the body part being scanned). We are pleased to note that we now have dedicated wrist and foot coils for improved musculoskeletal imaging.

MRA (Magnetic Resonance Angiography) of the lower extremities benefits from this new technology by allowing us to take more "snapshots" of contrast enhanced arterial and venous flow. This delivers temporal resolution without sacrificing spatial resolution and coverage.

These improvements combined with the widest variety of individually designed scan techniques help us to better evaluate the MRI patient's condition.

For more information about MRI at PIC, click here to see our MRI Services page.