MRI scan

How do you prepare before entering MRI room?

Everyday blooming and healing medical world bring many techniques to learn about your any and every health ailments. The numerous tests are readily available and one of the most accurate and prominent tests is MRI.

Magnetic Resonance Imagining (MRI) is a test that utilizes potential magnets, radio waves and PC to take thorough pictures of inside body.  This test does not utilize x-ray radiations. It can be read by the specially trained doctor called a radiologist though it is explained to us by our concerned doctor pursuant to the reports prepared by the radiologist.

Physicians use this test for two reasons; to diagnose a disease or injury and if under treatment then how well your body is responding to the treatment. MRI is done to almost every part of our body such as brain, heart, spinal cord, blood vessels, bones and joints, breasts, liver, kidneys, ovaries (women), pancreas, prostate (men) and a special kind of MRI is done to render brain activity called a functional MRI (fMRI).

fMRI examines the blood flow in your brain to investigate areas active when you do a certain task. It assists to discover brain issues such as stroke, epilepsy or tumors to plan your treatment.

What it diagnoses?

An MRI scan can be used as an extremely accurate method of disease detection throughout the body and is most often used after the other testing fails to provide sufficient information to confirm a patient’s diagnosis.

MRI is a milestone in the medical world since it is used to get an accurate and detailed picture of inside the body. Here are some major examples were unfeasible to examine before MRI;

  • Diseases of the liver and other abdominal organs
  • Injuries or abnormalities of the joints
  • Abnormalities of the brain and spinal cord
  • Tumors or epilepsy, cyst, and other deformities in any part of the body
  • Specific types of heart problems such as congenital heart disease
  • Causes of pelvic pain in women
  • Liver and other abdominal problems such as Cirrhosis, bile duct or pancreas disease
  • Cancer
  • Bone infections, etc

An MRI scan is a painless radiology technique that has the advantage of avoiding any radiation exposure. There are no known side effects of an MRI scan as such. The benefits of an MRI scan relate to its precise accuracy in detecting structural abnormalities of the body.

MRI is a noninvasive alternative to X-ray, angiography, and CT to examine problems of heart and blood vessels. It is difficult to differentiate between cancer tissue and edema in MRI and it is bit costly are the only limitations many researchers discovered yet.

Preparing to go for scan

There is no preparation you need to do at home, all start at the hospital.

  • You should have informed your concerned doctor about your health problems such as kidney or liver disease.
  • If you recently had surgery
  • If you have any allergies to food or medicine
  • If you are asthmatic
  • If you are pregnant or might be pregnant
  • No metal is allowed. Though doctors present there will ask you to remove if any metal jewelry you are wearing or any metallic thing you carry with you have to keep outside that room. It is your charge also to keep metallic things outside. Because the magnetic field in the room attracts metal that can cause problems during tests. These include-
  • Filling or other dental work
  • Pins, screws or surgical staples
  • Body piercing
  • Artificial heart valves
  • Metal joints or artificial limbs, etc
  • If you have tattoos
  • Metal chips or clips in or around the eyes
  • Some types of metal coils placed within blood vessels
  • Earphones or headphones are provided by the staff to ward off the loud noises of the scanner.

There is some personal stuff advised to keep outside before this test;

  1. Cell phones
  2. Watch
  3. Eyeglasses
  4. Keys
  5. Underwire Bra
  6. Coins
  7. Dentures (false teeth)
  8. Belts and buckles
  9. Wigs
  10. Hearing aids, etc

Every year, approximately 10 million patients undergo MRI procedures. MRI has been shown to be extremely safe as long as proper safety precautions are taken. In general, the MRI procedures are painless. And it doesn’t cause tissue damage of any kind.

Can you eat and drink before MRI?

You can eat and drink normally before the test. But in some particular cases, the patient is advised not to eat or drink before four hours of the scan. Whereas depending on the area of your body would be underscan, you would be asked to drink a large amount of water beforehand.

Mothers should not breastfeed their babies for 24-48 hours after intravenous contrast is given. However, it is not yet confirmed. It is advised not to have an MRI during the first three months of your pregnancy to avoid risk if any.

There is no need to worry, everything would be informed beforehand either by your physicians or staff at MRI center.

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