Mobility impaired patients and people having to undergo intraoperative procedures will be amongst those to benefit most from the state-of-the-art, ultra-wide Siemens 3-Tesla MAGNETOM Verio MRI now available at Mount Eden’s Mercy Radiology practice.
The first installation of its kind in New Zealand, the Siemens MAGNETOM Verio provides a vast improvement in care for patients who have felt uncomfortable in the confined space of the conventional MRI, while also delivering the latest, world-leading diagnostic imaging capabilities.
Siemens Vice President of Healthcare, Mr Richard Guest, explained the significance of this multi-million dollar investment by Mercy Radiology.
“Accessibility to MRI technology has become more and more vital for communities, while at the same time, the prevalence of overweight and obese people in Australia and New Zealand has steadily increased.
“The Siemens MAGNETOM Verio is ideal for people who may not fit comfortably in the conventional, 60 centimetre bore scanner. It enables patients to be scanned on a 3-Tesla, ultra-high field MRI system with an ultra-wide, 70 centimetre magnet bore, and provides fast and reliable evaluation of complex pathologies.
“It’s faster, quieter than conventional scanners, and patients can be moved into the MRI feet first as opposed to head first, which makes the experience more comfortable,” Mr Guest said
Equipped with the unique and revolutionary technology, Total Imaging Matrix (TIM), the Siemens MAGNETOM Verio enables advanced applications to be performed as part of the daily routine, including extremely accurate imaging of individual organs as well as whole-body examinations. Parallel imaging in all slice orientations also results in significantly reduced image acquisition times.
“From a clinical perspective, the new scanner allows more patients to be scanned daily and produces higher resolution images, which improves the diagnostic process,” said Mr Guest.
“A significant co-development with the installation of the MAGNETOM Verio has been the establishment of a remote data connection at Mercy Radiology, which means that specialists located off-site can access scans soon after they are taken.”
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Caption: Weighing a staggering nine tonnes, the Siemens MAGNETOM 3T Verio was lifted into the radiology suite by crane on 2 April. This new MRI service is Medicare eligible and now available at Mercy Radiology in Mount Eden, Auckland.