Stanford Hospital and Clinics Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Program

Posted 06:45 PM, April 03, 2007, by reuling

By Claudia Cooper, CRT, and Teresa Nelson, CRT

(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger.)
Front Row: Tessie Reyes, MRI Scheduler; Navy Lu, RT; Marcia Maihack, Radiology Director; Leah Pericolosi, RT
Back Row: Dyana Ireland, RT; Claudia Cooper, RT Manager; Sherrie Lee, CRT; Veronica Simon, MRI Scheduler; Connie Lund, RT; Teresa Nelson, RT

(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger.)
Front Row: Russ Jones, RT; Carol Torbett, RT; Eric Gabriel, RT; Back Row: Greg Dowall, RT; Tony Galletta, RT; Sam Dong, RT
Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger.

When the Radiology Department started the MRI program in 1985, we were one of the very few programs in the Bay Area to have an MRI scanner (GE 1.5T), which was located in Mountain View at our "Advanced Imaging Center." In the early infancy of our program, we had only two pulse sequences: a Spin Echo and a Gradient Recalled Echo (GRE). Contrast was not even developed at that time. Even with the limited pulse sequences, we had a backlog of six to seven weeks! It has only taken us 22 years to get to a four-week backlog. Not bad, don't you think!!

We currently have four GE 1.5T scanners. Two are located at the main Hospital and two at the Blake Wilbur Outpatient Center. We are a full-service imaging facility specializing in the areas of breast, cardiac, functional MRI, and vascular imaging. The MR imaging contributions of Lucas Center colleagues, such as Mark Alley, PhD, Roland Bammer, PhD, Brian Hargreaves, PhD, and Mike Moseley, PhD, have helped to make our Radiology Department cutting-edge. Because of our expertise, we attract patients from around the country.

We also work closely with the General Electric (GE) research team at the Advanced Science Lab West (ASL), located in Menlo Park. Using images acquired by our Department, GE submitted an abstract at the 2006 Society of Magnetic Resonance Technologists (SMRT) on the advantages of ARC versus Asset and won first place! Our program was also a beta site for GE's 14.0 software. As we are all aware, being a beta site comes with many challenges. Our technologists have done a wonderful job accepting these challenges, and they remain very patient with us. We have 17 great technologists from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. A few of our technologists have over 15 years of experience; some have 5 to 10 years of experience; and others are just starting their MRI careers. Most of our technologists have been recruited from within the Radiology Department. Outside of the University, the reputation of our Department has allowed us to recruit technologists from across the country who are eager to work with world-renowned radiologists, such as Robert Herfkens, MD.

In the future, we will be installing two 3T MRI scanners at our Palo Alto outpatient imaging center on Sherman Ave., which will be operational in early 2008. We will also install three more 3T MRI scanners at our "North Campus" outpatient facility. The rapid growth of MRI from two pulse sequences in the '80s to countless sequences in the twenty-first century makes the future of MRI look even brighter for diagnosing and treating our patients.