Cave Veterinary Specialists in West Buckland has purchased a Philips Ingenia 1.5T Evolution MRI system to allow it to better diagnose and treat pets.
The £1.2 million scanner offers cutting-edge MRI technology to allow 50 per cent faster scans at a higher resolution than the practice’s previous system, meaning shorter general anaesthetics for patients. It will also allow a more detailed and accurate diagnosis of complex neurological conditions.
Head of neurology Tom Cardy said the investment future-proofs Cave’s MRI scanning capability for the next 10 years: “It’s not often in your career you get to work with a truly class- leading piece of equipment such as this. We are very grateful to Linnaeus for its ongoing investment in Cave and for providing us with an MRI scanner that will massively improve the care we can provide to pets.
“Faster and more detailed MRI scans will reduce the general anaesthetic times for our patients and allow us to diagnose conditions that simply would not have been detectable on lower resolution machines.
“This investment significantly increases the capability of our neurology service and the whole team is excited to get to grips with this amazing piece of kit.”
The system features a wide bore magnet, simple coil arrangement and large number of channels to provide improved resolution and flexibility, meaning clinicians can scan different organ systems in animals of different shapes and sizes. This set-up also allows Cave to expand into emerging fields such as cardiac MRI and advanced musculoskeletal imaging.
Lead picture: Radiographer Tracy Down with imaging nurse Staci Finn and the Philips Ingenia 1.5T Evolution MRI system.
Published on page 21 of the July 2022 issue of RAD Magazine.