About 3.0 Tesla (3T) – Open Bore Magnet

Great news for MRI patients. ImageCare Medical Imaging offers patients one of the most cutting-edge pieces of MRI equipment in the market today – the 3.0 Tesla (also known as 3T) Open Bore Magnet. ImageCare Medical Imaging is the first outpatient facility in the Capital District to offer this advanced technology.

For patients, the 3T means greater comfort and an effective imaging experience. For the physician, it means clearer, more detailed images.

What is a MRI scan?

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is an advanced imaging technique using a strong magnet and a complex computer system to produce high resolution images of soft tissue and structural anatomy. MRI has revolutionized the fields of musculoskeletal, cardiovascular and neurologic imaging. The images collected are displayed on computer monitors and provide detailed information that our radiologists carefully review to make a diagnosis.

Tesla (T) is the unit of measurement quantifying the strength of a magnetic field. Prior to the 3 Tesla Machine, the high-field standard was 1.5 Tesla. Our scanner generates a magnetic field that is twice the strength of 1.5 Tesla machines and 10 to 15 times the strength of low field or open MRI scanners. The magnetic field produced by our 3T magnet yields exceptional anatomic detail.

The 3T is extremely efficient. With shorter scan times, the 3T magnet maximizes patient comfort without compromising quality. The superb reliability of high-field MRI allows our board-certified, subspecialized radiologists to differentiate between benign and potentially serious medical conditions with confidence. This allows your healthcare team to provide you with an earlier diagnosis and treatment, leading to a more positive outcome.

A Comfortable Experience for Patients

With this system, we have a magnet that operates at the highest clinically used field while still allowing us to deliver one of the most comfortable imaging experiences to our patients. This system will allow our doctors to have one of the widest ranges of imaging capabilities while being able to cater those services to patients in almost any situation.

It is designed for maximum patient comfort with a large, patient-friendly 70-cm bore (opening). With one foot of spacious headroom, patients won’t feel like they are nose to nose with the top of the magnet. This means the tight confines in older MRIs are a thing of the past. The system’s opening is wide enough to accommodate a diverse array of patients including individuals who have traditionally been hard to image, such as children and those who are claustrophobic.

Furthermore, patients are only positioned once for multi-part studies—a big benefit for frail or elderly patients.

Better Images for Physicians

The MAGNETOM Verio 3T offers excellent image quality and superb diagnostic capabilities. The 3T has the strongest magnetic field strength used clinically today and gives ImageCare Radiologists access to many applications, including neurology, orthopedic assessment, and vascular imaging. The 3T excels at studying small body parts that need high resolution, such as the Pituitary and Cranial nerves and workups of small abnormalities in the brain. The 3T system offers an advantage in epilepsy studies due to the need for high resolution imaging. The 3T is also advantageous with the musculoskeletal system, particularly small joints such as wrists and ankles.

A new arena where 3T is particularly useful is for prostate imaging. Over the past several years, evidence supporting the use of MR imaging in the evaluation of prostate cancer has grown. The introduction of the 3T scanner into clinical practice has created an opportunity to improve the quality and usefulness of prostate imaging.

The ImageCare Medical Imaging Difference

At ImageCare Medical Imaging, we pride ourselves on being unique in the field of radiology with our experienced subspecialists who interpret every single MR study. Our radiologists are all subspecialty trained from elite institutions including Harvard, Duke and Yale Universities.

Our facility is patient friendly with an attentive staff. We have a spacious, comfortable waiting room with ample parking available. We strive to keep patient wait times to a minimum. The addition of the Verio 3T to our MRI department also increases capacity and enables us to increase the number of patients who can take advantage of our valuable imaging services. ImageCare Medical Imaging can offer patients same day or next day appointments for the 3T with minimal wait times.

Insurance companies pay the same amount for an MRI, regardless of whether your exam is performed on a low-field or high-field magnet. The 3.0 Tesla Magnet is a very specialized scan. It may not make sense for every patient and every issue. So ImageCare Medical Imaging continues to offer two 1.5 Tesla short bore magnets and one 1.5 Tesla Open Magnet at its convenient outpatient facility in Latham for patient scans that don’t require the 3T.

To determine which scan is best for you a subspecialty radiologist at ImageCare reviews all the requests for the day and protocols the studies that would benefit from 3T accordingly. Our technologists evaluate all MR patients for MR safety. Patients with certain implants or hardware may not be able to have 3T but may be able to have MR imaging with the 1.5T.

Take advantage of the state-of-the-art technology, non-hospital, friendly atmosphere at our physician owned-and-operated facility. Choose ImageCare Medical Imaging for your imaging needs.