MRI to aid research at Leeds

A Magnetom Verio from Siemens Healthcare with the team at the Leeds Musculoskeletal Biomedical Research Unit.  From left are manager Sue Smith, senior MRI research radiographer Rob Evans, MRI medical physicist Peter Wright, senior lecturer in MRI Dr Richard Hodgson and Siemens regional sales manager Neil Lincoln.

Scientists at the Leeds Musculoskeletal Biomedical Research Unit, based at Chapel Allerton Hospital, have installed a Magnetom Verio from Siemens Healthcare for musculoskeletal research.  The system is the only large bore 3.0 Tesla MRI in the UK being used purely for this purpose. 

The Verio features a large 70cm bore to enable more flexibility and allow researchers to place patients off centre to gain better quality imaging results.  The ability to place hands and wrists at the centre of the Verio provides the researchers with clearer and more in-depth images.  The bore also accommodates a greater range of patients and can capture sharper images due to less anxiety-related movement. 

“Patients will undergo around three or four scans during the course of a research project, so the scanner has to be comfortable, which was one of the key decision factors in selecting the Verio,” said Dr Philip O’Connor, director of imaging at the unit.  “We also needed a large bore system for kinematic imaging.

See the full report on the back page of the May 2010 issue of RAD Magazine.