New PHILIPS, Ambient Experience, Open Magnetic Resonance Imaging Device with high field uniformity

MITERA General, Obstetrics/Gynaecology & Paediatrics Clinic is the first hospital in Greece that acquired and installed the new Open Magnetic Resonance Imaging Device with high field uniformity 1.0T, which is the top achievement of the medical imaging technology and one of the most advanced Magnetic Resonance systems that are currently available worldwide. It allows the capture of Magnetic Resonance images of the highest definition during short-time examinations, offering a really open ambient experience which focuses on creating friendly environment of the examined person minimizing the claustrophobic feeling that the known long “tunnel” cylindrical systems generate.

The value of the open design of our clinic’s new Magnetic Resonance device is greater in paediatric cases.

Ambient Experience, one of the new Magnetic Resonance device’s proprieties, is able to minimize in different ways the stress that children feel before and during the examination.

The preparation of the child for examination starts from the waiting room. Children are asked to perform themselves magnetic resonance examinations on a miniature of the MR device, they choose a toy and put it on the examination bed, and then they put it in the MR device to learn if it is sick.

Further, animations appear on a monitor explaining to children what exactly the doctors see in the toy. This procedure stimulates the children curiosity and allows them to cooperate better with the medical staff.

Subsequently, in the examination room there are images that fit the idiosyncrasy of the child and they remind of a child room full of toys. This approach is clearly different from the idea that most of us have about examination rooms being the same for everybody and at the same time it improves a great deal the confidence of children in the room. The clinical psychologists who have cooperated to develop this system say that offering to children some rich aesthetic information obstructs the feeling of fear and insecurity allowing them not to get scared and to be calmer. The images that are displayed in the examination room show to the child when s/he has to get a deep breath when this is required for the examination, whereas there are times that they distract the child’s attention in a pleasant and positive manner in order to give the personnel the chance to perform the necessary nursing or technical operations for the completion of the imaging procedure. This way, doctors and the rest of the personnel are getting help in the most time-consuming part of a magnetic resonance imaging, i.e. persuading the child to get into the MRI device or to mild sedate the child for this purpose, allowing them to focus on the most important part of their mission, the diagnosis of child’s condition.

The new open MRI device of MITERA in connection with Ambient Experience is a system particularly friendly to children and it is undoubtedly easier, faster and more comfortable for claustrophobic patients and consequently for the rest of the population.

Public Relations Department
MITERA S.A.
Tel 2106869653