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London’s largest hospital has added a new imaging machine for less urgent cases that it says will help to reduce patient wait times for medical scans.
The first hospital in Canada to adopt the new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine, made by health care equipment giant Siemens, the London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC) says the new machine will be used for patients with less urgent needs who can visit and leave the hospital on the same day.
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Patients are now being scheduled for August, the hospital said Thursday.
MRI technology is not new, but the latest imaging machine added at LHSC has features that stand out including a larger opening for patients being scanned – they lie down for the procedure in a ring-ling opening – and artificial intelligence capabilities, LHSC said.
Like x-rays and CT scans, MRI scans are another form of imaging diagnostics widely used in health care. The technology employs a magnetic field – the new unit uses a lower-strength magnet, LHSC says – and radio waves to take pictures inside the body. Typically, MRI is used to examine soft tissues such as organs and muscles, which x-rays can’t capture.
Adding new MRI machines to a hospital can be costly for more reasons than one, including new construction and space that are often needed for the large units.
But the new machine at LHSC is housed in a self-contained unit connected to its Victoria Hospital campus by an enclosed walkway. Lifted into place by a crane after the unit arrived on a transport flatbed last month, the hospital said it avoided the extra costs of construction often associated with MRI installations and “significantly reduced the amount of time” needed to make it operational, with only a one-month turnaround to commission the unit.
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The Ontario government helped to cover the cost of the new machine, the hospital said.
“We are grateful to Ontario Health and the Ministry of Health for helping us to fund this new MRI technology, which raises the standard of diagnostic imaging and reflects our dedication to making advanced health care accessible,” said David Musyj, LHSC’s interim president and chief executive.
Now equipped with five MRI machines, the hospital will be better able to match patients to the machine “that best suits their individual health-care needs,” said Dr. Narinder Paul, LHSC’s head of medical imaging.
“As the first hospital in Canada to adopt this specific machine, LHSC reinforces its reputation as a leader in health-care innovation,” Paul said. “We are evaluating how this technology can reduce wait times and improve access to care.”
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