Hi, I'm Omar, in my videos I try to convey my work experience as a radiology technician to inform and help people to perform MRI exams with more awareness. Today we will talk about an important musical topic in MRI, claustrophobia.

Are you claustrophobic and have to undergo an MRI scan? These are the 8 tips to be able to take the exam more calmly. In the end, I have left the advice that claustrophobic patients offer me directly and that is very useful to complete any type of examination.

A very simple and very obvious tip is to visit the facilities where the exam will take place.

The first piece of advice that I would like to give to all those claustrophobic people who do not know the environment where the exam will take place is to go and see the facilities where the exam will take place before the day of the exam. Clearly if the hospital or diagnostic center allows it. Most installations can make a big difference for anyone who has a hard time staying inside the magnet. There are magnets on the market considered "open" that can give greater advantages for certain tests, it is true, but unfortunately this is not valid for all tests. For example, for brain and cervical exams where there is no real benefit, whereas the open magnet is useful for many other exams, such as for the extremities (arms and legs). In this video I will not go into evaluating the image quality of open or closed resonances, but I will do so in another dedicated video.
Before moving on to the second tip, I would like to quickly describe the facilities used in resonance to understand the following tips more clearly.

What do I mean by magnets? When you enter the room where the exam will be performed, the largest and most voluminous part is made up of the bed (where the patient will have to remain motionless for the entire duration of the test) and the magnet (which many people describe as a hole or a washing machine ). The bed is the part of the room where you will lie comfortably in order to get in and out of the magnet.
Over time, different MRI manufacturers have become concerned about the problem of claustrophobia and patient comfort. In fact, the openings, the entrances, the entrances of the magnets have gone from 60 cm to having an opening with a diameter of 70 cm.
The old magnets in some cases had depths of 2 meters they were even closed at the back. Fortunately, today you can find magnets only 1.20 m 1.40 m deep. Therefore, those who undergo the exam have a greater sense of openness and are less subject to problems of claustrophobia.

But now let's go ahead and start the most important part of the videos - the tips:

Tip 2: Dialogue and communication with the radiology technician who performs the exam.
If you are claustrophobic and anxious, it is essential to speak openly with the radiology technician who will be conducting the exam. If the operator is aware of these problems, it will be easier to find solutions to reassure the patient. There are a few little tricks, which I'll explain shortly ... but the dialogue is essential and extremely helpful in completing the exam.

Tip 3: Alarm buzzer.

Throughout the examination there is continuous contact between the patient and the technician and it is important that the person has the knowledge of not being alone.
Once the patient is positioned on the table, the radiology technologist will have to go out and perform the exam and will not be able to stay inside the exam room.
(I open a parenthesis to explain that, in general, for pediatric children, a parent could stay inside the exam room to allow the child to maintain eye contact with a loved one and help them relax) this way of proceed could also be applied to an adult, but they are still really exceptions.
Before the exam begins, each patient receives a warning buzzer. This allows you to always stay in contact with the radiology staff and immediately alarm and stop the exam if necessary.

Tip 4: The importance of the anatomical region to be examined.

In MRI, the anatomical region to be examined must be exactly in the middle of the magnet. In some cases, you will enter the magnet lying on the bed with your feet first, for other exams with your head first. For a brain scan, for example, your head will need to be in the middle of the magnet and you will enter the magnet with your head first. In addition, in the vast majority of examinations, the anatomical regions examined are wrapped / inserted within plastic supports. In the case of head and neck tests, the patient must wear a kind of motorcycle helmet.

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