At Children’s, we combine the power of advanced 3T MRI technology with the expertise of our pediatric radiologists so a physician has the information they need to best care for your child. We have MRI physicists on our radiology team who work with pediatric radiologists to produce the highest quality images and provide clinical information to better diagnose your child. Our MRI physicists, in conjunction with pediatric radiologists, have developed protocols tailoring each exam to the patient’s age and condition. This is particularly important in pediatrics because of a broad array of patient sizes—from fetal MRI to newborns and young adults—and medical conditions. Oftentimes, adult providers use generic imaging protocols provided by the manufacturer regardless of the patient’s age or condition. At Children’s, however, you can rest assured that the imaging protocol used for your child will be based on the type of injury or illness and his or her age.
We have child life specialists who are trained to explain and help children through an MRI. Also, our staff is dedicated to performing scans on kids and offer extreme patience and diversions, such as watching a movie or listening to music. In addition, we allow parents to stay with their children in the MRI room.
Sedation is sometimes needed for MRIs in order to keep your child still during the exam. Sedation may be needed due to age or because of developmental or physical issues. We also offer general anesthesia for children with certain medical conditions.
Upon completion of scans, our pediatric radiologists will look at the images and send a report to your child’s doctor.
