“The MAGNETOM Avanto symbolizes a new era of MR image quality and efficiency that allows us to obtain high resolution full-body images without ever stopping to reposition the patient,” said Scott Pereles, MD, Medical Director of MRI at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and associate professor of Radiology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “This will enable us to diagnose and treat patients in a more timely and comfortable manner. This technology is also much quieter than other MR full-body scanners and allows feet-first examinations, greatly decreasing anxiety for patients who are uncomfortable in small spaces.”

“This state-of-the-art scanner will serve as the focal point of our clinical cardiovascular MR imaging program, and will also provide an opportunity to expand our capabilities in other areas,” said Eric Russell, chair of the Department of Radiology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and professor of Radiology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. “The early acquisition of this scanner was facilitated by our close working relationship with Siemens Medical Solutions.”

“This scanner will allow us to take our clinical cardiac imaging research efforts to the next level,” adds James Carr, MD, Director of Cardiovascular Imaging in the Department of Radiology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and assistant professor of Radiology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.

The MAGNETOM Avanto is Siemens Medical Solutions newest 1.5 Tesla Magnetic Resonance (MR) system and the first product to incorporate Siemens revolutionary Total imaging matrix (TimTM) technology. Tim is the first whole body surface coil design to seamlessly combine up to 76 coil elements and 32 RF channels [76×32].

The MAGNETOM Avanto, in addition to state of the art cardiovascular imaging, offers many other advantages, particularly for neurological functional applications and whole body cancer scanning. It also features Siemens unique iPAT (integrated Parallel Acquisition Technique) that provides fast image acquisition with parallel imaging in all dimensions, including head to toe, front to back, and side to side. PhoenixTM software allows clinicians to transfer protocol for medical images from a CD, making it possible to initiate a scan directly from the image. Additionally, the system features AudioComfort, reducing acoustical noise by up to 97 percent.

This story was originally published on Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Web site.