MRI Scan Contrast Agent Issues

Arthuritis

@Trish9556 I am so sorry for your horrible experience. I am only aware of a heated “blanket” (full of hot air being blown) for MRI, and quite light for patient comfort. The only heavy blankets I know of are made of lead metal used in CT scans to protect body parts they don’t want being exposed to ionising radiation. (Damaging type).

MRI has no ionising radiation, but can’t always be used and is much more expensive. A full body CT costs NHS £250 the equivalent MRI is over £1000 depending on the machine.

I hope you never need that type of scan again.

jamieA

Hi @Trish9556 and @Arthuritis

Since first being diagnosed with PsA in 2020 I've had MRI's of my lower back, right foot, left hand and lastly my head. Each time the part being scanned was covered with a clamp to hold that part of the body locked in position. There are two channels that run the length of the scanner bed and the clamps were fixed into these. For my hand they produced a clamp that they referred to as a 'toaster' as it looked like a waffle toaster with a clam shell design. On the inside it had a mould of a left hand. Once it was locked I couldn't move my hand or fingers. Similarly when my foot was scanned it was locked into a 'boot'. When they did my head the back of my head was lowered into a mould and then a rigid face mask was clipped into place so I couldn't move my head. The strange thing was there was a mirrored prism in the mask that meant that lying flat on my back I had a view of the window into the room the radiologists were in - it was a bit surreal. When I had my lower back scan there were cross body clamps holding my torso locked in place.

Trish9556

Hi @jamieA

I must admit I have never been clamped into an MRI Machine and I've been having them since they were first used in our local RAF hospital many many years ago when I had a brain scan at age 19 and was allowed to see the resulting pictures straight away.

I have had various solid supports placed around me to hold me in place where necessary and the mat was the first placed onto me. I suppose it depends on what they're scanning and the radiologist.

The good news from the scan was yes I have bad hips but all the horrendous pain was being caused by gluteal tendinopathy which is easier to fix

Love n hugs

Trish xx

Arthuritis

@jamieA @Trish9556 I recall the foot/boot and the hand/wrist clamp, made of light rigid plastic, as nothing metal is allowed inside the super magnet donut. Perhaps some of these restraints even if not made of metal, could be heavier than others.

Geek out… MRI machines are really amazing in how they produce images *without* x-rays, instead listening to our own bodies (and the water molecules within) which emit a faint cacophony of radio signals when perturbed in the presence of super magnets. Like a spinning top if pushed would wobble back and forth, emitting a radio signal giving away everything about the top and its surroundings. The signal is distinctive of the tissue type and the powerful MRI computer listens to this signal and turns it into images. That is a genius invention! 😄

jamieA

Just an update on this. I had a rheumatology consultation 21 September and told the rheumatologist what had happened. She suggested that as my finger and toe joints were still aching she'd like to give me a half dose steroid shot into my rear end to try to dampen down the problem. Not only did it work for that but I can also now make a fist and can straighten the fingers on my left hand - the very reason I was sent for the MRI in the first place.

I had an appointment with the orthopedics consultant who ordered the MRI scan last week. It didn't get off to a good start as he asked me how my wrist was ! I told him I'd come to see him initially about my fingers - trigger fingers. He covered up his mistake with bluster and we moved on. I explained my rheumatologist had given me a steroid shot to ease my aching finger and toe joints but it had had the added effect of letting me straighten my fingers and make a fist. I also explained that I'd had an adverse reaction to the GBCA and ended up in hospital for 8 days. He said he knew nothing of this - he hadn't read my records. He then pulled up my records onscreen and read the entries from my last hospital stay and said there was no reference to avoiding GBCAs in future. I told him I'd been assured that this had now been done by the radiologists. He told me that the radiologists had a separate system and that it needed to be added to my main health record in much the same way as my allergic reaction to amoxicillan had been done previously - and it needed to be done by my GP. He said he would write to my GP immediately to ensure this was done. In the meantime as the steroid injection was still having an effect he wouldn't do anything about my trigger finger and booked me another appointment in February 2024.

I sometimes feel I'm trying to push water up hill with all of this.

Trish9556

Hi @jamieA

Thanks for the update. I'm not surprised that the NHS are not all working on the same page and that your reaction has not been added to your general records. I was diagnosed with my vertebral artery being in the wrong place in 2019 and it's still not put on my notes as important. I also had the results of an x-ray on my wrist diagnosing osteonecrosis on my thumb joint despite having a trapeziectomy in that thumb in 2020. I'm no closer to finding out what is going on, had an urgent referral back to my surgeon 4 weeks ago that is still to be looked at. Both of these, the vertebral artery and the apparent death of my bones could have serious consequences on my health but nobody talks to each other. A sorry state of affairs.

I'm glad somebody is looking out for you in any case even if you may have had to do some major poking!

Love n hugs

Trish xx