Comments | thefoxaroo: I didn't even know that any zoo would HAVE an MRI scanner

thefoxaroo

I didn't even know that any zoo would HAVE an MRI scanner

Jan 14, 2009 12:25

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/5261115/woman-mri-zoo

A US woman who had a tumor on her spine was told to go to the zoo to have a MRI because she was too heavy and too wide to fit through a regular MRI machine, according to reports ( Read more... )

Comments 5

carlfoxmarten January 14 2009, 02:01:31 UTC

Heh, now we can add "needing to use the Zoo's MRI machines instead of the hospital's ones" to the list of reasons to keep your weight down! =^.^=

If I ever were in a situation like that, I'd probably feel a little uncomfortable, but I'd understand the problem and solution.
(at least, I think I would, anyway)

thefoxaroo January 14 2009, 05:12:59 UTC

Personally I think the woman over-reacted. Sounds to me like she simply didn't want the implication of being regarded as "large as an animal" or something silly like that.

So what? The hospital didn't have a machine in her size, the zoo does. Big deal. Sounds like a practical solution to me.

Now that's she's made a fuss about it, the implication is going to stick forever.

carlfoxmarten January 14 2009, 05:53:14 UTC

I really have to totally agree with you, here.
That really was an over-reaction, and if she hadn't made a fuss about it, nobody would ever known, now, would they?

The problem with larger MRI machines is that they need even larger, heavier magnets to operate, and then they can become even more dangerous than they may already be...
(you might also need to have them a dozen floors underground from the rest of the hospital, with many layers of steel in between to keep the magnetic field in check)

marmoe January 14 2009, 09:13:59 UTC

Mu-Metal does wonders for shielding, but I would not be surprised, if making the machine bigger also degrades image resolution. So in order to encompass 0.1% of the patients you'd degrade images for everyone.

Apart from the above MRI machines cost more the bigger you make them and price does not scale linear with size.

deckardcanine January 14 2009, 16:38:57 UTC

(uses metric conversion site)

Okay, that's obese, but I've heard of much worse. Hospitals ought to be prepared for that, especially since America's not getting any thinner.