Strength Matters...

Strength is not just important in the wild kingdom. At least in the realm of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, the strength of the magnet is king. As it turns out the more powerful the magnet the quicker it can obtain the images. As a result, more and more powerful magnets are constantly being developed to allow a greater human patient throughput and ease human patient anxiety associated with the MRI procedure by shortening the procedure. And while shortening the time it takes to complete an MRI procedure is important in the human market, the ability to generate images quickly is even more important with veterinary patient’s who require the use of general anesthetics to immobilize them for the procedure.

The more powerful magnets have offer additional benefits as well including the ability to acquire thinner slices and image smaller anatomy. While these benefits would not be needed for a 425 pound tiger, they can be very useful when imaging the spinal cord of a 3 pound kitten or imaging the brain in a bald eagle. The diverse nature of veterinary patient size exceeds what most human diagnostic imaging centers encounter.

While very few veterinary facilities have MRI units installed within the physical walls of the building, even fewer have MRI units with sufficient magnetic field strength to ensure the optimal brief imaging times Dr. Conrad needed for Shirkon. Indeed AVMI is the only diagnostic imaging facility in southern California that has a super conducting, high field, 1.5 Tesla MRI scanner dedicated for veterinary use.

Experience matters...

In addition to equipment better than what is available in most human imaging facilities AVMI has the advantage of over 20 years of veterinary diagnostic imaging experience. Dr. Michael Broome began offering diagnostic nuclear medicine imaging procedures to southern California veterinary patients in 1986. Since that time, AVMI has expanded to provide additional diagnostic imaging modalities including CT and MRI.

Some veterinary diagnostic imaging centers are operated by individuals with limited experience interpreting veterinary specific imaging studies. This can lead to errors in the diagnosis or missed diagnoses. The presence of veterinarians experienced in diagnostic image interpretation on-site during the actual procedure allows for real time image interpretation. This ensures appropriate, on-the-fly, adjustments in the procedure can be performed to maximize the diagnostic value of the procedure as well as minimize the general anesthetic time to obtain that information.

In Shirkon’s case, it took only 10 minutes to determine that his brain was normal and not the cause of his weakness. Within less than an hour of imaging time the diagnosis of cervical intervertebral disc disease (i.e., a bulging disc in his neck) was made and Shirkon was on his way to recovery. Now all that was left is for surgery to be scheduled for another day.