MRI

At Morton & Partners, we try to make your experience with us as comfortable as possible; to this end many of our MRI machines use larger tunnels.

If you think that you might still feel anxious during the exam, you may ask our radiologist to administer a mild sedative prior to the exam.
Note that you would need to fast for at least 6 hours before your scan in order to take the sedative.

Most orthopaedic implants pose no risk, but you should always tell the radiographer, if you have any devices or metal in your body.
The magnetic field produced by our wide-bore MRI machine, is not harmful, but it may cause some medical devices (for example: pacemakers, aneurysm clips and prosthesis) to malfunction.

Our friendly booking receptionist will ask you a few protocol questions, when making your booking, in order to assign the right type of machine for your unique case.

On the day of the exam, you will also complete a patient questionnaire and consent form reconfirming the details you have submitted.

Before the exam starts you will be positioned inside the MRI unit. Devices that contain coils capable of sending and receiving radio waves may be placed around or adjacent to the area of the body being studied.

While you are in the machine, the radiographer will perform the examination while working outside of the room on a computer. You will be able to communicate with the radiographer for the duration of the exam.
An alert button is available if you feel too uncomfortable and would like to come out of the machine.

If a child is being examined, a general anaesthetic may be required and a parent may be permitted to stay in the room.

The success of the MRI relies on your cooperation, since any movement will compromise the scan quality.

An injection of contrast material, to enhance the visibility of certain tissues or blood vessels, may be needed. This is generally administered more than half-way through the examination.

To allay the prolonged noise during the examination, headphones are available with music of your choice.

Why are MRI rooms always cold?

The MRI room is kept cold (17 – 21° C ) to ensure an appropriate working environment for the machine’s magnets.

Under normal circumstance, our MRI radiographer will provide the patient with a blanket, however, following the recent outbreak of Covid-19 and the hygiene protocol associated with it, we will not be providing patients with blankets when undergoing a MRI scan at any of our departments. We, therefore, encourage patients to bring warmer clothes (for example cotton lounge wear or winter pajamas) for the exam. Depending on the type of MRI study you might be required to wear the provided medical gown.

Note the clothing should have no jewellery, zippers or wiring as this will affect the overall image quality.

The average time for procedure: 20 – 60 minutes
The average time is dependant on the area of study, the complexity of case and anaesthetic are required.