Mahaska Health Partnership Installing Latest MRI Technology
Workers moved a new Siemens MRI scanner into MHP this week.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – A small crowd was gathered in the parking lot at Mahaska Health Partnership this past week to watch the latest technology get unloaded and moved into the Mahaska Health Partnership building.
Julie Hartke, Director of Radiology at MHP, was happy to see their new MRI scanner being craned into place this week. Their old scanner had been taken out in December, and her department has been taking advantage of a mobile unit until their new one comes online near the end of March.
“It will be at field, we’ll have the magnet ramped on the 23rd of March, which means the magnet will be on, and it’s always on after that, through its service life.”
The MRI scanner, built by Siemens, was approximately one ton and one million dollars.
Hartke said the old MRI scanner had served Mahaska Health Partnership for the past 14 years. “It was an awesome machine. It did great pictures for us. But we also want to stay with the greatest technologies that we can do for patients.”
The new MRI features a shorter tunnel, and is also a bit wider, and makes faster image sequences. All of that helps those individuals who have claustrophobic tendencies.
The strength of the magnet for the new MRI unit, 1.5 Tesla, is about 20,000 times the force of the earth’s gravitational pull, as far as strength. “They are very powerful machines that produce beautiful images,” explained Hartke.
A group from MHP spent considerable time evaluating different manufactures and designs before deciding on the Siemens MRI unit.
The new technology over the old will allow better views of cartilage damage in joints, more 3D sequences. “Things that would take us a five-minute scan before, a sequence can now be done in about two, or one in some cases.”
“We will be competing with every new scanner that’s out there. The picture quality of the Siemens is superb,” Hartke added, as workers were pushing the new unit through the temporary door.
