DAILY MAIL
11/12/06 - Health section
Walk-in machine takes fear out of MRI scans

By SALLY ]ONES

As I suffer from mild claustrophobia, the very thought of sliding into the narrow, enclosed aperture of an MRI scanner, brings on palpitations and panic.

So when I damaged my knee in a real tennis match last March - I was training for the women's world championship - I tried to put off the dreaded scan. MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) is used to produce detailed images of soft tissue, tendons, nerves and muscles, as well as the brain and circulatory system - it's used to diagnose all kinds of conditions, from sports injuries to breast cancer.

When undergoing a scan you lie down and are moved inside the large cylinder, or tunnel, of the scanner so that pictures of the body can be taken.

An estimated 10 per cent of the population are so claustrophobic that they can't use traditional MRI technology at all or need heavy sedation to do so, while many severely obese people are too big to fit into the enclosed tunnel.

But now there's a scanner that can help. The Upright MRI Scanner, installed in London two months ago, is the first of its technology. After a warning to keep ultra-still to prevent the images blurring, I was amazed to be asked what I wanted to watch. Sure enough, there was a wide screen above the window linking the scanner area with the control room.

I selected an episode of Friends, in an effort to keep up with my teenage children, only to be asked whether I could watch it without laughing.

One earlier patient giggled so uncontrollably, the scan was ruined and had to be repeated as she watched a soporific Jacques Cousteau documentary.

From the control room, the radiographers programmed the board to rise and tilt slightly backwards so that my knee was at the centre of the electro-magnetic discs. Then came several scan sequences lasting about 40 minutes in all, the dialogue of Friends only marginally interrupted by occasional low buzzing sounds,

Sadly for my street-cred, I remember little of the episode as I fell asleep within minutes, luckily remaining still throughout, then left clutching a CD of the scan for my surgeon.
For once no sweat, no panic. The only question is whether I can get fit after the (thankfully minor) knee op in time for the world championships next May.

The London Upright MRI Centre, 020 7637 2888 www.uprightmri.co.uk