MRIs All Once?

[Wonderwomom]

Hello -

I am going to be scheduling my MRIs (hopefully to rule out MS!) this week. I will be having all four for brain and spine with and without contrast. I have been told it is no less than four hours in the MRI machine and breaks are not likely.

I was wondering if most people try and do all scans (eight total) at once or break the visits up. In half for example?

I appreciate your input.

[rdmc]

Hello -

I am going to be scheduling my MRIs (hopefully to rule out MS!) this week. I will be having all four for brain and spine with and without contrast. I have been told it is no less than four hours in the MRI machine and breaks are not likely.

I was wondering if most people try and do all scans (eight total) at once or break the visits up. In half for example?

I appreciate your input.

I usually do mine all in one go. Brain, cervical, and thoracic spine, with and without contrast. Most neuros don't do the lumbar spine unless they're looking for something other than MS lesions, i.e. injury, disk problem, stenosis, etc.

The higher the Tesla rating of the machine, the quicker the length of time for the imagine, at least that's what I've figured out. When I have a whole series run with a Tesla 1.5, it takes about 3.5 hours. The noise makes me fall asleep so the time passes pretty quickly.

Worst part, for me, is you're laying relatively motionless on a hard metal slab and when I get up I'm really stiff.

Some folks do them in two parts...just all depends what you think you'd like.

[KitOP]

I think breaking with and without contrast into 2 different scans is a bit misleading. They will inject the dye during the initial scan.

During the scan, the technician should (or mine does anyway) ask if you are ok. If you are not ok, please let them know.

And if you think it will help, some will RX something to relax you if you are not comfortable being in the tube.

I would suggest talking to your dr a little bit more - or at least to the staff the day of the MRI to put your concerns at rest.

Good luck, and let's hope for your sake, it turns out not to be MS.

[pennstater]

I have always done the brain, cercual and thoracic with and without contrast in one test. However, last time, I had a bit of problem keeping my right leg still. The hospital doesn't like to do the thoracic with the other two. In the future, I will be scheduling that separate.

Good luck.

[Wonderwomom]

Thank you all very much for your comments. I found them very helpful. I also spoke with the imaging facility today and they cleared up the time concerns I had. They use a 3T machine and total combined scan time (w and w/o contrast) is around two hours. Much better than I had thought!

Thanks again.