MRI of the Upper Extremity
Purpose: This exam is performed to visualize the shoulder girdle, elbow, and hand/wrist in any cross sectional plane.
Length of Exam: Approximately 1 hour
Patient Prep: The patient should arrive early to be screened.* This can also be completed on the phone during scheduling.
If any contradictions are noted, the radiologist on duty will be consulted to determined if it is all right to go ahead with the exam, or postpone until safety issues are resolved.
If there is an injection the patient will need to sign a consent form.
Procedure: The patient will be given all pertinent instructions prior to the exam. The patient will then be positioned accordingly on the table with the proper coil** in place.
Multiple imaging procedures are then performed by the technologist. All acquired information is then given to the Radiologist for interpretation. A report is then made and sent to the referring physician.
- *screened: procedure of determining whether or not its safe for a patient to have their MRI performed.
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**coil: device used in MRI to transmit and receive radio frequency signals in order to acquire data.
