New MRI for claustrophobic patients

Lying down, standing or even sitting - with the newly introduced open Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine, people can now choose how they want to be scanned.

Lying down, standing or even sitting - with the newly introduced open Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine, people can now choose how they want to be scanned.

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Unlike the conventional MRI machines, which made people with claustrophobia uneasy because of its tunnel-like appearance, the G-Scan, installed for the first time in north India, is open from all sides and is noise-free.

"For the past 10 days, we have been flooded by claustrophobic people. One person came all the way from Dehradun to get the test done, after waiting for four months for the machine to be installed," said Dr Harsh Mahajan, medical and managing director of New Delhi's Mahajan Imaging, who installed the G-Scan at his centre and has already scanned 40 people.

Due to the standing posture that the machine allows, people can also be a part of the diagnosis by pin-pointing the radiologist conducting the test exact position that hurts.

"Many joint pains get worse when you stand. In the lying-down position, as is the case with the conventional machine, there's a chance of missing those pain-causing defects," said Dr Mahajan.

The MRI machine is specifically meant for scanning joints and the spine. It is not meant for head and abdomen MRI scanning.

"This is helpful in telling the surgeon exactly how much the surgery is going to benefit the person. Sometimes, due to lack of availability of the accurate picture, surgeries happen without relieving the pain," said Dr Bharatinder Singh, sports medicine specialist.

G-Scan cuts the number of unnecessary surgeries by 5%.

However, as compared to the conventional MRI that costs Rs 6,000, G-scan costs Rs 9,000, and it takes about 40 minutes for a scan instead of the 20 minutes in the conventional MRI.