What You Need To Know About Your Visit

Before the scan

Patients will be asked to arrive 15 minutes before their MRI or Ultrasound appointment to fill out the appropriate forms. This is necessary for screening and insurance purposes.

Once paperwork has been completed you will be asked to use the restroom to empty your bladder, because once the scan has started, it cannot be interrupted.

We ask that patients arrive in comfortable clothing. If possible, the clothing should not contain any metal, this includes, zippers, grommets, hook and eye closures, metal buttons, etc. Please remember that bras and jeans do contain metal.

You will be asked to remove all metal objects from your body including: watches, keys, pill boxes, rings, bracelets, earrings, hair pins, dentures, loose change, credit cards (credit cards have a scanning bar that cold be erased by the magnetic field).

During the scan

Patients will be placed on a table. A coil or curved plastic frame will be placed around the body part being scanned. This coil acts as an antenna which receives the released energy from the area that is being scanned.

This energy is then transferred to the computer which forms an image of the body part onto the computer screen. A loud tapping or thumping sound will be heard while the scanner generates the images. It is important not to move at this time, otherwise the pictures will be of poor quality and undiagnostic.

For the examination, several sets of pictures will be made in different anatomical planes. Each set will appear different, but all combine to give an overall picture of the area being scanned.

Depending on what your physician orders, it may be necessary to give you a small injection. The injection of gadolinium is not an iodine based liquid therefore patients should not experience a reaction. The gadolinium or contrast is injected into the vein which goes into the blood stream highlighting specific abnormal areas. It is very safe and is passed out of the body through the urine within a couple of hours of the study. Following the exam, if you require contrast, we suggest that you drink a lot of water.

Exam Demonstrations

The following pictures are of MRI exams that MIDxC offers. To view a larger version of the photograph click on the image.