About your MRI appointment
To arrange for your MRI appointment, a referral from your family physician, specialist, chiropractor, podiatrist or dentist is needed. Once the referral is obtained, simply call us to schedule your appointment. The MRI results are then obtained through your practitioner following the procedure. It is helpful to bring along any prior x-ray or CAT scanning films to your MRI appointment to assist with the interpretation of your results.
Having an MRI done is safe, and there are generally no restrictions about eating or medication before or after the exam. Depending on the type of procedure, scan appointments typically take 30 to 45 minutes. A tapping or buzzing sound is produced by the system as it changes its secondary magnetic (“gradient”) fields to obtain the image information. During this time, you will be lying still on a padded table, and can listen to your favorite music.
You will be asked to fill out a safety screening questionnaire and then change into an MRI compatible robe using one of the change rooms adjacent to the scanning area.
Although the high magnetic fields in the scanner are harmless to your body tissues, they can interact with foreign metallic items such as brain aneurysm clips, metal particles in the eye, pacemakers or cochlear implants. Earrings, necklaces, bracelets, watches, rings and other jewelry should not be worn, and mascara and hair care products should be avoided for head scans on the day of the exam. Should a screening xray be needed to ensure your safety while in a high magnetic field, we can arrange this prior to your MRI appointment. Some exams may require the use of a contrast agent called Gadolinium, which is injected into the forearm.
If you have any special needs, please let us know when your appointment is scheduled so that we can make every effort to accommodate these. We will strive to ensure that your experience at Open MRI of New England is personalized and pleasant, and that the quality of the scan image is the best possible.