• Home
  • News
    • Politics & Government
    • Business & Economy
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support Page
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / Health / Medicine / New system planned to make Cedar Rapids MRI more comfortable

New system planned to make Cedar Rapids MRI more comfortable

December 27, 2011 By Matt Kelley

Laying perfectly still for up to 45 minutes inside a magnetic resonance imaging machine can be difficult, but patients at an eastern Iowa hospital may find the task easier soon. Debbie Person, who runs the MRI lab at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids, says they’re installing what’s called a CinemaVision system to help distract patients from the procedure.

“There’s a lot of knocking noises associated with an MRI scan and it’s in a type of a tube that the images are taken in,” Person says. “It can be somewhat claustrophobic for patients and it can be scary for children.” CinemaVision includes a special set of goggles and earphones that are worn by the patient while inside the machine.

The goggles enable the patient to watch a DVD they’ve brought from home and there’s even a 3-D option. They can also just plug in an MP3 player and listen to tunes. Person says, “It helps to take their mind away from what’s happening around them with the MRI scan and they can watch video or listen to some music to help them relax just a bit more.”

The MRI uses a magnetic field and pulses of radio wave energy to make pictures of organs and structures inside the body. Because of that, the goggles and earphones have to be made of very specific ingredients. Person says, “Certain metals cannot be brought into the scanner because it could be attracted to the machine so there has to be a material that’s used that can accommodate the magnetic environment and therefore those types of equipment are a little bit more expensive.”

The system is being installed at St. Luke’s thanks to a gift of nearly $45,000 from Peregrine Charities of Cedar Falls. CinemaVision should be operational at the hospital early in 2012.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: Health / Medicine, News

Featured Stories

Governor signs child care expansion into law

Iowa seniors have until July 1 to apply for new property tax break

Smoke from distant fires creates colorful sunrise in Iowa

DOT’s Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division to merge into State Patrol

Iowa’s governor approves liability limits for trucking industry

TwitterFacebook
Tweets by RadioIowa

Iowa AD Gary Barta announces retirement

Iowa to visit Creighton in Gavitt Tipoff Games

Iowa and Indiana collide Thursday at B1G baseball tournament

Former Hawkeye joins Lisa Bluder’s staff at Iowa

Iowa rolls in B1G Tournament opener

More Sports

Archives

Copyright © 2023 ยท Learfield News & Ag, LLC