By: Dr. Chao

3T-MRI (3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging) is MRI done with a stronger magnet. Using a stronger magnet results in better images. Tesla is a unit of “magnetic field.” Using 3T-MRI, we can get better and sharper pictures in less time than is possible with a weaker magnet. 3T-MRI is the best way to do MRI.

When I was a medical student at the University of Rochester, MRI was just an idea in its creator’s mind. It became a revolutionary way to image the human body when I was in medical school and because I felt it held the future in what we can see and do, I was determined to understand and follow this technology. Radiology used to be simply the study of diagnostic x-rays, but we now have many more methods to image the body including MRI and ultrasound. When I first started, the strongest super conducting magnets were 0.6T. They were remarkable in their day, but very slow when compared to what we now have available to us. At that time, closed 0.3T machines tried to challenge the stronger 0.6T machines. The inferior lower strength magnets (which created poorer images) lost. Simply put, stronger field strength means better pictures. Over time, the 0.1T, 0.3 and 0.4T systems all became dinosaurs. They lost out to evolution of MRI.

The next big kid was 1.5T. I was fortunate to have had a fellowship at the University where 1.5 Tesla MRI was developed. In 1985, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania teamed up with the GE Corporation to introduce the most advanced MRI system of its time — 1.5 Tesla MRI. That was two and half times stronger than the then-standard 0.6T machines. What happened later was evolution, the 0.6T became dinosaurs and 1.5T became the standard field strength that is still used today.

In the early 1990’s Japanese corporations developed software and permanent magnets at 0.3T and ingeniously marketed them as OPEN MRI units. The sides of these machines were open, but the space for the patient was, in fact, narrower than the more powerful, super conducting, MRI units. Today OPEN MR enjoys some success in competing with 1.5T and 3T-MRI units due to this clever marketing. The truth, however, is that OPEN MRI makes inferior pictures. OPEN MRI units are narrower and take two or three times longer to scan fewer images of a quality which can result in missing very important things. Let’s be honest, if I asked to scan you on an extremely slow, poor quality MRI machine with narrower walls and less chance to finding a potential problem, would you actually do it?

As an MRI fellow, I sought to enlighten and teach. One thing I taught in the 1980’s is that computerized tomography study (CT) of the brain and spine is sub-optimal. It shows so little detail and misses so many things that it is incredible that we use it at all. A positive CT scan leads to an MRI study to find out more detail. A negative CT also leads to an MRI study just to make sure. So the CT study is essentially superfluous. A waste of time and money. CT studies should be used sparingly if at all. This also applies to OPEN MRI. Like CT, it is a very poor study which can miss huge abnormalities. In some countries, OPEN MRI machines are actually banned for this very reason. Most patients are completely unaware of this, however, and think that “an MRI is an MRI.” But not all MRIs are created equal, and OPEN MRI machines are definitely inferior. In terms of physics, the “signal to noise” (a measure of the elements used to creating an MRI image … a bit like talking about “pixels” in a digital camera) is actually one-tenth that of a 3T MRI study. To obtain the same “signal to noise” as a 3T MRI study on an OPEN MRI, you might have to scan up to 100 times longer on.

The physics involved also show that 3T-MRI is about 2-4 times better than a 1.5T unit. There are definite instances where 3T-MRI picked up lesions that were missed by both an 0.3T OPEN MRI unit and a 1.5T MRI standard closed unit. A large cerebral aneurysm was missed on OPEN MRI. If this had burst, it might have been fatal. Fortunately it did not. OPEN MRI missed a case of avascular necrosis of the shoulder, which diagnostically looks like a bone tumor. 1.5T MRI missed a case of multiple brain lesions. 1.5T MRI missed subtle bleeding in the brain.

Generally speaking, using 3T-MRI lets us see more clearly and the contrast effect is doubled. Our ability to detect hemorrhage is at least doubled. If you do not have your scan at 3T, you will never even know what might have been missed. Patients drive to our facility in Newark DE all the way from Lewes because we are the closest 3T-MRI machine. Educated doctors insist on 3T-MRI quality. I hope you will think the same in the future.

My point? If you need an MRI, have it done on the very best machine available. The first time. Having an MRI done on a less powerful, inferior, machine—which can miss things—will result in your needing a second one on a better, more powerful, machine to confirm the results. Regardless of the results. If your test is positive on the poor test you will repeat it at 3T-MRI because you can see more. If your test is negative, you will repeat it to make sure there is nothing there. So, why waste your time and money? Why not be sure from the beginning? 3T-MRI is better than CT and OPEN MRI. Both give inconclusive results. If you need imaging, get the very best available. Use 3T-MRI. (www.3t-mri.net)

For more information, contact MRI Consultants at 302.295.3367 or 302.295.0467.

Dr. Philip Chao graduated phi beta kappa from Yale University and was a Scholar or the House. Then he went to the University Of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and received his medical degree in 1983. He then did a transitional internship year at the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown NY and then he was chief resident in Radiology at SUNY health science center at Brooklyn during his residency from 1984-1987. He was a fellow in Neuroradiology there from 1987-1988. He has been interested in MRI technology from medical school. The first MRI scan was done in 1981. He was Body MRI fellow (1988-1990) at the University of Pennsylvania where he worked with the pioneers in MRI on the first GE Signa 1.5T (tesla) scanner.  He was also a Neuroradiology Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania from 1989-1990. He then became Director of MRI for 14 years in Wilmington DE. He left his position there to create the best MRI center in Delaware. It was at this time that 3T (tesla) scanners have been developed. The first 3T (tesla) scanners were scanning research patients in 2002.  But only recently in the past three years (since 2004) these advanced scanners have been available for clinical scanning. 3T is the newest horizon for MRI. Dr. Chao worked to bring 3T technology to Delaware and has had the first 3T scanner in Delaware in operation since February 2007. 3T is twice as good. If you need the best MRI scan in Delaware please consider MRI Consultants, LLC.