Mercy Medical Center unveils upgraded MRI technology

Mercy Medical Center has acquired the Philips Ingenia Elition 3T MRI, the fastest diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging technology available. (Jennifer McMenamin Photography)

Mercy Medical Center has acquired the Philips Ingenia Elition 3T MRI, the fastest diagnostic magnetic resonance imaging technology available, the hospital announced.

The 3T MRI was installed and is now operational, according to Brad M. Cogan, M.D., chair of the department of radiology at the Baltimore-based hospital.

MRI is a technology that uses specially designed strong magnets — between 10,000 and 20,000 times the strength of Earth’s magnetic field — to take images of the organs and structures inside the human body. A tesla is the unit of measurement quantifying the strength of a magnetic field. A 3T MRI generates a magnetic field that is twice as strong as a normal MRI, and 10 to 15 times as strong as open MRI scanners.

The 3T MRIs can have a larger and shorter magnet bore, the section of the machine in which the patient will lay still. This means patients with claustrophobia have more space and are less likely to request sedation. Larger patients will have an easier time getting a high quality scan because they can fit more easily into the MRI machine.

MRI scans can vary depending on what is being imaged. The longer it takes to conduct a scan, the greater chance the resulting image will be poor.

The new machine features dedicated coil technology for extremity imaging of the shoulder, hand, wrist, foot, ankle and knee.

A university-affiliated teaching facility founded in 1874 by the Sisters of Mercy, Mercy is a Catholic hospital with a national reputation for women’s health care, orthopedics and other specialties. Mercy is home to the Weinberg Center for Women’s Health & Medicine and the more than $400 million Mary Catherine Bunting Center.