Alfred Health News

Midnight manoeuvres at The Alfred involved two cranes, the partial closure of Punt Rd and a carefully planned and delicate night-time operation to deliver the hospital's newest high-tech equipment.

The 3T MRI machine was delivered to The Alfred Centre late at night and installed in the wee hours of the morning. Removing the side of The Alfred Centre was required so two cranes could drop the equipment into place.

The state-of-the art MRI was bought with generous donations, totalling $4.5million (for purchase and installation), from hospital supporters.

Professor Ken Thomson, Director Radiology at The Alfred said:  "For a radiologist, image quality is the most important thing.  MRI imaging is vital for diagnosing a huge range of conditions - and the 3T provides the fastest and clearest image possible". 

An MRI scan is used to investigate or diagnose disease or injury to the heart, brain and digestive organs as well as tumours anywhere in the body and spinal and joint injury or disease.

An MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machine uses magnetic field and radio waves to take pictures of the body internally. The unit for measuring the strength of a magnetic field is a ‘Tesla', represented by the letter T. Until now, The Alfred has used 1.5T MRI machines. The magnet in a 3T MRI is twice the strength than the 1.5 machines and creates superior images. The resulting images will provide medical staff with more detailed information about patients, leading to more accurate diagnosis and reduced need for follow-up tests like biopsies.