High-power MRI at Blessing receives national accreditation from American College of Radiology

QUINCY — Blessing Hospital Diagnostic and Imaging has earned a three-year term of accreditation in 3T Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) after a review by the American College of Radiology, earning the organization’s gold seal of accreditation representing the highest level of image quality and patient safety.

MRI uses magnets and radio waves instead of radiation to create images of structures inside the body including the brain, spine, soft tissue of joints, musculoskeletal and small bones and the vascular system. 3T MRI has an imaging strength twice as powerful as conventional MRIs, allowing it to capture clearer and more vivid images during a shorter scanning time for patients.

In addition:

• The coils required to be placed on a patient’s body that emit the signal to the MRI to produce the image, are a new technology called “Air Coils.” They are inside a blanket that lies across the patient, rather than being attached to the patient’s body. Air coil technology increases comfort and helps deliver a better image.
• Blessing’s 3T MRI is a wide bore, meaning the opening through which a patient passes during the imaging process is larger, and patients can be scanned in the feet-first position rather than head-first only. Both the size of the opening and patient positioning can help reduce anxiety during an MRI scan.
• The table on which patients lie during imaging sits lower to the ground, making it easier for patients to get on and off.
• The room housing the MRI features floor-to-ceiling windows contributing to a more natural environment, and its design features the latest advances in MRI safety.

The 3T MRI serves patients from the Blessing Health Center, 927 Broadway.

The ACR gold seal of accreditation is awarded only to facilities meeting ACR practice parameters and technical standards as determined by a team of board-certified physicians and medical physicists after a peer-review evaluation. During the review, image quality, personnel qualifications, adequacy of facility equipment, quality control procedures and quality assurance programs are assessed.

The ACR is a professional medical society dedicated to serving patients by empowering radiology professionals to advance the practice, science and professions involved in radiological care.