PAUL HALTON Hawke's Bay patients will get the use of some of the world's best technology with the arrival of a state-of-the-art Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner that's able to take astonishingly clear images of inside the body. The $800,000 scanner, faster and more powerful than the previous one,would cut examination times and treat about 14 people a day. "You can't get a better image anywhere else in the world," Hawke's Bay Hospital's Iain Morle said. "Combined with the team we've got here, you can't get a better opinion." An MRI can be used to diagnose many conditions including muscular, spinal, liver and neurological problems. Another advantage of the upgraded MRI was that it could take images of people who could not stay still. The upgrade was part of a series of new technologies being launched at the hospital. "The district health board is investing in high-tech imaging equipment to improve patient outcomes," Sean Skea, head of radiology, said. MRI uses magnets and computers to make an image of the interior of the body. Radio frequencies are directed at the patient, returned to an antenna and turned into an image by a complicated maths equation.
