Good Samaritan to Purchase New MRI

During today’s Good Samaritan Board of Governors meeting, the Board approved the purchase of a new MRI for Radiology Services. The existing MRI is 11 years old and has performed beyond its expected useful life. The total cost to replace the MRI system is $2.25 million. This price includes the renovation of the current MRI suite and mobile MRI rental during renovation and installation.

“The Radiology Department is very excited about the purchase of this new machine,” said Mark Schafer, Director of Radiology. “It will not only benefit our patients and improve their care, but the new technology will allow staff to work more efficiently and safely.”

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) uses and sends magnetic and radiofrequency waves into a patient’s body. The energy emitted by the atoms in the magnetic field sends a signal to a highly sophisticated computer which uses mathematical formulas to convert the signal to an image. During its history, MRI has made continuous improvements in speed, patient comfort and image resolution.

Today, MRI has become the primary imaging tool of providers for patient diagnosis in stroke, spinal / musculoskeletal disease, breast cancer, and identifying the biological and physical properties of various cancerous tissues. As a result, Good Samaritan has experienced an 11% increase in MRI patient volume as compared to 2020.

A competitive bid for a new MRI was conducted in September 2021 with responses from three different vendors. Siemens provided the best, overall bid related to technical specifications and image quality.

The advantages of the Siemens MRI will have benefits to patients at Good Samaritan. “With the new MRI, there is expected to be a 40% reduction in examination time, whole-body imaging without patient repositioning, reduction of breath-hold times for abdominal imaging, and a reduction of sound / noise by 70%,” said Schafer. The new machine will also have the ability to provide cardiovascular imaging.