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One of the the Trust’s largest purchases in modern times, the 3Tesla MRI Scanner at Noble’s Hospital has now been operational for four years.
In this case study, we take a look at the impact the project has had on patients, waiting lists, and the healthcare professionals who work with it.
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In October 2020 a brand new Siemens 3Tesla MRI scanner was delivered to Noble’s Hospital.
Buses were rerouted and a bus stop moved, to allow space for a crane to lift the machine off the lorry. It was manoeuvred into place in its new room through a large hole that had been made in the outer wall of the hospital. Also arriving with it was the 2,000 litres of helium required to keep the magnet in the machine cool when it is in operation.
The room it sits in had to be lined with copper, to shield the MRI and prevent any corruption of the images.
It was a defining moment for the hospital’s redesigned Imaging Suite, part of the Radiology Department, where the new machine would work alongside an existing, less powerful MRI scanner, effectively doubling the capacity. At the time the waiting list for MRI scanning had, at times, reached nine months.
The arrival of the 3Tesla scanner, and staff working through a few weekends, cleared the waiting list. This despite the fact that demand for scans appears to be ever-increasing.
‘We have successfully performed over 12,000 MRI scans on the new machine since it was installed,’ says superintendent CT/MRI radiographer, Paul Subacchus.
The two MRI machines complement each other well, in a number of ways. For patients who suffer from claustrophobia, for example, the 3Tesla has been especially helpful, being much wider and also offering them the distraction of watching videos whilst they are undergoing the scan. The Harry Potter films are very popular apparently.
Paul says: ‘We have lots of patients that have been unable to undergo MRI on the old scanner but these patients can successfully have their scans here without having to travel off island.’
Not just a valuable diagnostic tool it has also advanced the treatment of certain cancers on the island, including breast and prostate.
Paul says: ‘The 3Tesla has brought an improvement in the MRI breast scans and for certain types of breast cancers that are associated with a family history, it is used for regular screening scans. It has recently started to produce MRI prostate images that can be fused to ultrasound images to allow ultrasound guided surgery here on the island, a very new technology that even some of the larger teaching hospitals do not yet use. Also certain aspects of neurology and paediatric imaging are only performed on the new scanner.’
Paul adds that the technology new machine uses has also future proofed the department: ‘It is a really nice machine to work on, it’s really intuitive with a lot of AI built in. And it improves the workflow. It has made a massive difference.’
