Providence Imaging Center announces critical upgrades to MRI scanners
May 1, 2006

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA – 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.

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