MRI at local hospital or at the big hospital?

alutiiqmom

Hi:

In December it will be time to do another MRI. We ususally travel to Seattle Children's Hospital. We live in Alaska. We are going to stay in Alaska and do the December MRI in Anchorage. We have been told that the machines are the same and they will have the Seattle Tumor Board read her film.

Have any of you made the decision and what kind of experience did you have? Was it smooth? did you have problems?

We are nervous, but our daughter is so tired from her chemo we thought we would try it. I hope and pray for all of you fighting this awful diease! God Bless you all!

Edna

johngiustino

not all MRIs are the same
I am treated at UC San Diego which has a specialized brain tumor unit. Not only do they have the highest resolution magnet in the area, but they us a pretty advanced protocol that is able to detect tumors earlier and distinguish between things like tumor growth and innocuous "enhancements". Previous to UCSD I was at another big name hospital in the area that was using a less specialized, more routine protocol. It is not just the magnet, but the procedure. At UCSD they flush a contrast agent through you rather than take a static picture after dosing with a contrast agent. In addition, they use NMR spectroscopy to distinguish the features I mentioned above.

Best of luck,
JG

alutiiqmom

johngiustino said:

not all MRIs are the same
I am treated at UC San Diego which has a specialized brain tumor unit. Not only do they have the highest resolution magnet in the area, but they us a pretty advanced protocol that is able to detect tumors earlier and distinguish between things like tumor growth and innocuous "enhancements". Previous to UCSD I was at another big name hospital in the area that was using a less specialized, more routine protocol. It is not just the magnet, but the procedure. At UCSD they flush a contrast agent through you rather than take a static picture after dosing with a contrast agent. In addition, they use NMR spectroscopy to distinguish the features I mentioned above.

Best of luck,
JG

thank you
Hi:
Thanks for the response. That is my worry. We will ask about the resolution. But, I am also so afraid to stay here when the bigger hospital has so much more experience with these brain tumors. We will continue to research our options. I wish you the best. God Bless You.
Edna

KellyAK2011

MRI
I had mine done at the Providence Imaging Center on Abbott. They did a very good job on me. Prior to my craniotomy, I had a very detailed MRI at the main hospital imaging center that the used for my stealth surgical technique. Dr. Estrada Bernard, is an incredible surgeon - he came to us after being Chief of Neurosurgery and UN Chapel Hill and Duke University. I highly recommend him if your girl needs further surgery at some point. He took one look at my images and knew immediately I had a tumor after I had been misdiagnosed by a Neurologist as having had a stroke. If he hadn't been in AK, I would have left the State for my care. He truly is incredible and is a Godly man. Maybe he could just see her and look at her films.

alutiiqmom

KellyAK2011 said:

MRI
I had mine done at the Providence Imaging Center on Abbott. They did a very good job on me. Prior to my craniotomy, I had a very detailed MRI at the main hospital imaging center that the used for my stealth surgical technique. Dr. Estrada Bernard, is an incredible surgeon - he came to us after being Chief of Neurosurgery and UN Chapel Hill and Duke University. I highly recommend him if your girl needs further surgery at some point. He took one look at my images and knew immediately I had a tumor after I had been misdiagnosed by a Neurologist as having had a stroke. If he hadn't been in AK, I would have left the State for my care. He truly is incredible and is a Godly man. Maybe he could just see her and look at her films.

Ak Regional
HI Kelly:

We are supposed to do the MRI at Alaska Regional, but I think we can see what Providence has. Whichever hospital we will send the film to Seattle Children's where the tumor board is supposed to take a look at it. I am going to see what Prov's MRI machine is like too, that is a good option. Thanks. I hope you have a good weekend. God Bless you Kelly!
Edna

Chris_W

alutiiqmom said:

Ak Regional
HI Kelly:

We are supposed to do the MRI at Alaska Regional, but I think we can see what Providence has. Whichever hospital we will send the film to Seattle Children's where the tumor board is supposed to take a look at it. I am going to see what Prov's MRI machine is like too, that is a good option. Thanks. I hope you have a good weekend. God Bless you Kelly!
Edna

In my experience...
Hi Edna

If the Seattle hospital says that the image quality is the same, it doesn't make a difference - but get confirmation of that from the Seattle radiologist. My hospital won't accept MRI's from anyone except the ones I have there, because the images are of different quality and at a different angle. It's really important to go with what your particular hospital says, because the radiologists get specific training for certain machines.

Hope that helps ease your mind somewhat. I see people at my hospital (I'm in Montreal) fly in from the extreme north, it must be difficult to go back and forth like that. I won't complain about my 45 minute commute ever again!

Chris

alutiiqmom

Chris_W said:

In my experience...
Hi Edna

If the Seattle hospital says that the image quality is the same, it doesn't make a difference - but get confirmation of that from the Seattle radiologist. My hospital won't accept MRI's from anyone except the ones I have there, because the images are of different quality and at a different angle. It's really important to go with what your particular hospital says, because the radiologists get specific training for certain machines.

Hope that helps ease your mind somewhat. I see people at my hospital (I'm in Montreal) fly in from the extreme north, it must be difficult to go back and forth like that. I won't complain about my 45 minute commute ever again!

Chris

Thanks Chris
Hi Chris:

Thank you for you advice. You brought some good points to ask about. We will be talking to Seattle soon. Seattle told us in September that it is fine do the MRI's at home. I know when we got to Seattle they re-did the MRI's though (on the onset of this illness). I should know by now, that God will guide us through this as well and I should not be worrying! God Bless you and thanks for the support!
Edna