When It Comes to Imaging, You Have a Choice
3T-MRI is the best MRI available today for clinical use. It uses a magnet that is stronger than those used in other MRI scanners and is used by our country’s finest Hospitals and Cancer Centers. MRI Consultants has the only 3T-MRI in the entire State of Delaware. A stronger magnet gets better images—much like digital cameras. The more pixels, the higher the resolution and clearer the pictures. 3T-MRI is the best “camera” available today.
Pelvic MRI is much better at 3T than with weaker magnets. 3T has higher signal to noise, resulting in imaging that is faster, more detailed and higher in resolution. It is twice as sensitive to contrast enhancement and can scan the pelvis with contiguous sections. This means it can scan up to 30% more of the body than any of the weaker MRI scanners. 3T yields fantastic images and this added level of detail not only helps patients find abnormalities more quickly, it also provides a much clearer picture of what patients are actually facing.
We recommend getting an ultrasound study of the pelvis before getting an MRI. They are easy, use no ionizing radiation and make accurate diagnoses about 80% of the time. Surprising for an MRI specialist to say so, but it’s true. However, let’s discuss the remaining 20%. Ultrasounds, while great for some things, are very bad at others: abscess, endometrial pathology, adenomyosis, submucosal fibroids, cervical cancer and ovarian cancer. For imaging cervical cancer, MRI is the method of choice (ranked 8 out of 10).
Pelvic CT (computerized tomography) is not a good test. MRI is much better at finding anything missed by an 
ultrasound. Because CT has poor soft tissue contrast, it simply cannot show the difference between normal and abnormal tissue. It can only detect a large mass or a gas-filled abscess, missing endometriosis, small uterine fibroids, small ovarian tumors and cervical cancer. Also, as CT cannot see tumor margins very well, it is not a good tool for staging purposes. A good MRI shows vascular detail much better. One reason doctors do not order MRI’s of the pelvis is that they are not yet used to good, high-quality MRI—much less the quality of imaging (with regard to detail, resolution, etc.) now possible with 3T-MRI.Additionally, CT exposes the patient to radiation. This must be considered when contemplating a CT scan. Exposure to radiation is increasingly problematic for people today. It is rarely explained to patients that there is a risk of getting cancer from the radiation used in CT scans. That risk is approximately 1/500 for children per scan and 1/1000 in adults. In a recent NY Times article, they actually estimated that up to 1 person in 200 might get cancer from a CTA (computer tomography angiographic). These studies have doses equivalent to 1,050 chest x-rays. CT colonoscopy has even more. In less technical terms, 10 CT scans produce roughly the amount of the radiation produced by the atomic bomb at Hiroshima!
Our 3T scanner has a special sequence called BLADE. Not only can it take images one at a time, it can also freeze motion. If needed, TRICKS can take MR angiographic images of the pelvis. TRICKS is the newest software for MR angiography. It scans for one minute and then produces about 6 images of the contrast every 10 seconds. This is much more effective than the old method of following and precisely catching the dye as it moved through the body. It was easy to miss using the timed method. TRICKS removes the risk of “missing” the dye.
Using higher signal to noise and a smaller field of view yields more detailed images—and does so much more quickly than weaker scanners. Patients get restless while in the scanner and since a better, higher-quality scan can now be done in less than half the time, this is a big step forward in patient care.
Get the very best MRI available. The first time. Ask your doctor. Ask the MRI facility how strong their scanner is. You owe it to yourself. An MRI on a less powerful, inferior, machine can miss vital findings. You certainly would not want to get a false negative—and later discover that a more power MRI would have detected the problem. Be sure. Get a 3T-MRI at MRI Consultants.
Some of our patients drive all the way from Lewes because we are the closest 3T-MRI machine. Educated doctors insist on 3T-MRI quality. We hope you will too. (www.3t-mri.net)
Dr. Philip Chao graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Yale University and was Scholar of the House. He continued his studies at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, receiving his medical degree in 1983. After a transitional internship year at the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown NY, Dr. Chao did his residency in Radiology at Brooklyn’s SUNY Health Science Center (1984-1987), where he became Chief Resident. He stayed on to complete a fellowship in Neuroradiology (1987-1988). Dr. Chao has been interested in MRI technology since its very beginning—the first MRI scan took place in 1981 while he was pursuing his medical studies. The University of Pennsylvania, where Dr. Chao was both a Body MRI Fellow (1988-1990) and a Neuroradiology Fellow (1989-1990), was at the heart of the development of this technology and Dr. Chao was able to work with pioneers in MRI on the first GE Signa 1.5T (tesla) scanner. His advanced research and specializations complete, Dr. Chao left the University of Pennsylvania for a position as Director of MRI in Wilmington DE—a position he held for 14 years. Dr. Chao eventually left that position to create the best MRI center in Delaware, using the very latest technology: 3T MRI. While 3T (tesla) scanners have been used for scanning research patients since 2002, these advanced, more powerful MRI scanners only became available for clinical use in 2004. Dr. Chao worked hard to bring 3T technology to Delaware and in February 2007, MRI Consultants, LLC began operating the first 3T scanner in the State. 3T is the newest horizon for MRI. For more information, contact MRI Consultants at 302.295.3367 or 302.295. 0467.
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