 St. Joseph Healthcare is proud to offer top of the line MRI technology with its recently installed Siemens MAGNETOM Avanto MRI scanner. The new machine, located in a sunny, comfortable room with large windows, offers a shorter, wider design making the overall experience less claustrophobic for the patient.
“It’s a 16-channel magnet. It’s the best magnet at this field strength that you can get right now,” says Staci Hallee, Lead MRI Technologist at St. Joseph Hospital. She says the machine is equipped with research level gradients, which produce high resolution images with very thin slices.
St. Joseph Hospital performs all types of MRIs, from spine and brain to extremity exams, as well as diagnostic breast MRIs. In addition, St. Joseph Hospital is the only hospital in the state to perform MRI-guided breast biopsies. This new diagnostic tool allows early detection and, if necessary, rapid outpatient biopsies for younger women who have been identified as having significant risk factors for breast cancer.
The new MRI machine is designed for patient comfort with an adjustable table, significantly reduced noise level and faster, higher quality imaging technology. With the ability to keep most exams less than 20 minutes, the MRI center can see more patients meaning shorter wait times. In most cases, patients can be seen within one to two days.
The MRI machine can accommodate people of almost all sizes, holding up to 440 pounds. The 1.5 Tesla machine produces high quality, high resolution images. Radiologists can examine small lesions with great clarity at unmatched speed.
St. Joseph Hospital’s Medical Imaging Department includes a full time radiologist on site every day, meaning physicians receive exam results sooner. Urgent exams can be reported on immediately, and in regular cases findings are reported to the physician within 24 hours. Having a radiologist available also helps avoid repeat exams as questions can be answered quickly as they arise and any additional imaging can be done with the radiologist’s supervision.
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