Are MRIs on Your Radar?
Maybe They Should Be
If your child is injured or needs some kind of pain diagnosed, it can be intimidating to learn that your pediatrician wants your child to have a Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI). But parents can take heart in knowing that the scans are pretty common and they don’t use radiation, says Blaise V. Jones, MD, chief of Neuroradiology at Cincinnati Children’s.
While MRIs usually are performed at a hospital and sometimes require anesthesia, parents also can have them done safely at our neighborhood locations, he says.
“As a doctor, I recognize that there are many places around the Cincinnati area that my patients could go to for an MRI scan,” Jones says. “But I also know that if a significant problem is seen on an MR study in a child, that study will likely be sent to the radiologists at Children’s for their opinion no matter where it was done.”
Cincinnati Children’s is the place to go for MRIs because you can get an expert interpretation in one visit, he says. Here’s what makes Cincinnati Children’s different:
- Our MRIs are designed for children. We don’t just miniaturize treatment for kids. "Not only are our MRI machines adjusted for children and reduce the need for sedation, but we also have child-specific protocols to make sure your child gets the best care possible," says Lane F. Donnelly, MD, radiologist-in-chief at Cincinnati Children’s.
- An expert staff. We have 35 clinical pediatric radiologists on staff. That makes us one of the largest pediatric-focused radiology departments in the world and the only one in the area. And we’re one of the few such pediatric departments to sub-specialize by organ system.
- Kid-friendly care. We make every effort to reduce the need for sedation during an MRI. Kids can wear video goggles so they aren’t even aware they are in the middle of a medical procedure. And we have a staff of Child Life specialists who help coach children through the process.
- Convenience. We provide kid-friendly MRIs at Kenwood, Mason and our Liberty Campus. “Now that they have MR imaging centers located in areas that are convenient for our patients, where they can go and get an MRI scan as simply as they would get a haircut,” Jones says, “there is no good reason for me to send them to an imaging center that usually only sees adults.”
Additional Comments
Q. Why should MRIs –- or Magnetic Resonance Imaging –- be on a parent’s radar?
A. Blaise V. Jones, MD, chief of Neuroradiology at Cincinnati Children’s, explains:
“As a parent, I would find the news that my pediatrician wants my child to have an MRI scan pretty intimidating. On the one hand, I know they are pretty common and they don't use radiation, but on the other, I know they are usually performed at the hospital and sometimes require anesthesia. So it is nice to know that Children’s has built centers like Liberty and Mason and Kenwood where I can go with my child and have a complex study like an MRI scan performed with the same level of experience and expertise as I would get by going to the main hospital downtown, without having to navigate through the whole medical center. It’s reassuring to know that the same experts that doctors around the country consult with when they have difficult cases involving children will be the ones who are interpreting my child's exam.
If I were a pediatrician ordering an MR scan, I recognize that there are many places around the Cincinnati area that my patients could go. But I also know that if a significant problem is seen on an MR study in a child, that study will likely be sent to the radiologists at Children’s for their opinion no matter where it was done. If I think my patient needs an MRI, I would like them to get the most expert interpretation up front, and be able to take advantage of the advanced capabilities of a world-renowned institution like Children’s and their internationally recognized faculty. And now that they have MR imaging centers located in areas that are convenient for my patients, where they can go and get an MR scan as simply as they would get a haircut, there is no good reason for me to send them to an imaging center that usually only sees adults. It’s an advantage to practice in Cincinnati where we have a resource like the radiologists at Children’s; it would be silly not to use that advantage to help my patients.”
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