The first-ever digital broadband MR system has been installed in Ayios Therissos-Nicosia that delivers crystal clear images, remarkable speed and technology.
The new MRI Philips Ingenia 3T is ready to serve our customers with new cutting edge technology standards. The new magnet has the largest bore diameter (70 cm) in commercial MRI systems, able to accommodate obese and fragile patients with ease in the largest homogenous field-of-view thus reducing the feeling of claustrophobia, and at the same time covering larger anatomic portions of the body, ideal for spine and abdominal imaging, speeding up the examination procedure.
Its new revolutionary technology uses direct digital RF sampling at the coil, sampling the MRI signal at the source, avoiding the intermediate analog stages for down-conversion of the signal between the coil elements and the analog to digital converter (ADC). All the ADC electronics have been miniaturized and placed within the coil where the digitization takes place with one fiber-optic cable replacing the multiple coaxial cables (channel-independent RF technology). Thus, the overall result is a simplified receiving architecture, with few electronic components, low power consumption, high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and dynamic range, producing enhanced MRI signal without pre-distortion or compression, eliminating analog artifacts.
The combination of the 3 Tesla magnet, the digital coils, and the improved techniques perform stellar everyday examinations, highly advanced angiographies, spectroscopy, functional MRI and diffusion weighted imaging – even in smaller body parts – with new dedicated software applications for the brain, breast, prostate, rectum, and the musculoskeletal system.
The new system is a welcoming addition to the powerful Philips iCT 256-slice scanner, the only one in Cyprus, a cutting-edge technology system able to capture images with up to 80% less radiation than other commercial CT scanners and produce enhanced images at sub-millimeter resolution. Its unprecedented accuracy and conduct is ideal for CT coronography and angiography examinations, full field-of-view lung studies and abdominal & pelvic imaging.
The two γ-cameras in our Nuclear Medicine department conclude the modalities offered at our department in Nicosia. These γ-cameras, a Millennium VG from GE and a Helix dual-head from Elscint are able to perform general Nuclear Medicine procedures for static, dynamic and SPECT imaging in Oncology, Cardiology and other clinical diagnostic imaging applications.
The flexible Siemens Avanto 1.5 Tesla with 32 RF channels is still in service in our department in Larnaca (Aradippou), one of the top models in its class, with integrated Matrix coil elements, fully equipped with a broad range of dedicated MR applications in every clinical field. This particular model is one of the most powerful 1.5 Tesla scanners so far and the most powerful 1.5 Tesla scanner in Cyprus.
The combination of top of the line equipment with our experienced medical and administrative personnel places us in the first place of delivering leading technology imaging and providing high-quality patient care in Cyprus.
Our upgraded PACS system provides immediate online access of the performed examinations to the referring doctors, and at the same time it is possible to send studies digitally to any medical facility or doctor abroad. The new PACS is in the process of being integrated with other private and government healthcare centers, providing comprehensive imaging records.
Additionally, with the arrival of our new MRI a new service of research will be implemented with local & international universities and institutions transforming the delivery and experience of care to our customers.
NEWER CONCEPTS IN MRI WILL BE SOON IN OUR SERVICE
- High-resolution MRI vessel wall imaging such as post-contrast 3D Black Blood technique has the potential to directly depict and characterize intracranial vessel wall pathology increasing the diagnostic accuracy for vasculopathies, which may not be shown on angiography, enhancing the specificity. The same technique is improving the images of MR Neurography.
- MR imaging with metal-suppression sequences is now a powerful tool in detection of arthroplasty-related complications which until now was impossible.
- Arterial spin labeling (ASL) is a technique used to assess cerebral blood flow non-invasively, without contrast injection, by magnetically labeling inflowing blood. This technique has a potential in the investigation of dementia and in the study of stroke patients.
- Whole-body MRI is a non-invasive screening technique that acquires images of the entire body in the coronal plane using only fast MRI pulse sequences.
- Whole-body MRI with diffusion-weighted imaging has recently been introduced for the evaluation of multifocal metastases in oncology patients.
- Automated and reliable quantitative MRI-based brain image analysis, has a huge potential to objectively help in the diagnosis and follow-up of many neurodegenerative diseases, including multiple sclerosis.
Diffusion Tensor Imaging of the Brain (fused with fMRI data)
Polyparamentric MRI in Prostate Cancer
MR Neurography with 3D Black Blood Technique
Whole Body MRI
Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) to assess cerebral blood flow
MR Angiography of multiple cerebral aneurysms using 3D TOF technique
3D digital subtraction post-contrast MRI of Breasts
