Brain MRI

I am scheduled for an MRI of the head, but am afraid I will become claustrophobic in the machine. Our town does have an open-ended MRI machine also, but I have heard that the readings aren't as accurate with one of those? Has anyone heard of this?

Thanks much, LoriK

[StephN]

Hi -
Having had several brain MRI's, I can answer this one. But I don't know about an "open ended" machine you mention.
The machine I use is fairly "user-friendly." They do put a kind of catcher's mask thing over your face, but it has only a few bars and large openings. That has a mirror attached that is angled so you can see out into the room and see the window where the technician is sitting at the computer. The inside of the MRI machine is also lit and a light ivory color, so you do not have the feeling of being in a tube. Half way through they will access a vein to give the contrast into - take the needle out right away and do the second half. This is if you have not been accessed prior to the scan.

You should get some little foam ear plugs and they can also put some padding by your ears to hold your head a little more snugly, which also baffle some of the noise. The noises are quite distracting and sometimes the whole table vibrates that you are lying on. I sometimes close my eyes as well as open them part of the time. Each part of the scan (with and without the contrast) takes about 12-14 minutes. It seems to go fairly quickly for me. I name the different sounds, and this little game also helps to distract me.
The scan I get for "screening" is a 5mm cut with a 1mm skip.
I hope you will do OK, and your scan will give you good results!

[Isabelle]

Hi Lori,

I am glad you are getting an MRI and I wish you the very best results.

I had my first brain MRI last week and it was exactly like StephN described. Mine was a little shorter in duration: 14 minutes for the scans without contrast. Then they injected me with a contrast through a vein and scanned me for about 2 more minutes. This is much easier to cope with than a cat scan when you have to drink barium. I am not claustrophobic, I just closed my eyes. Maybe you can take something to relax if you need it. You will need the ear plugs. They also wrapped a towel over my ears.

I could hear the technician as she occasionally asked me how I was doing and she could hear me.

The metalic contrast they inject in you does leave your urine smelling odd. Sorry to get so personal. Drink lots of water that day.

Isabelle

I have had 4 brain MRI's since Nov. First one was a routine after I recurred to the lungs. 5mm tumer was found and 2 shadows showed up. I had the tumor zapped with GK after a second MRI to get ready for it. Follow up in Jan. showed tumor gone, shadows did not grow but 3rd shadow showed up. Feb. MRI revealed all three shadows must be just vessels as nothing grew. So I am stable. I put myself in my own little world when having them done. I am a Christian and after prayer, I imagine Jesus sweeping black dots out of my brain and white dots coming in. And I pray more. I find being a little tired helps as I dose off sometimes. No longer a problem for me although the noise is like a jack hammer and rather annoying.
Mickey

I had one brain MRI when they were staging my original dx.

I am not a claustrophobic person so I've never found the MRI's too uncomfortable. The one for the brain is loud - lots of pounding noises and loud humming.

The machine I had had a light near my head and headphones. They ask you what kind of music you would like but, honestly, the noises drown the music out after a little while.

For me the easiest thing is to just close your eyes and try to relax. Just like everybody else has said - it doesn't take very long. It seems like it would be easy to take something to help you relax through the procedure. I would definitely try that route if I felt any anxiety about it.

Peggy in Florida