How the helium crisis impacts vet medicineDecember 6, 2022When asked about the challenges facing the veterinary industry, few people will jump straight to a helium shortage. Industrially, helium is primarily used in cryogenics, cooling down machinery to allow proper usage. This includes high-field MRI machines, used throughout the veterinary industry to detect causes of foreign bodies, seizures, spinal pain, and behavioral changes in companion animals. These machines use liquid helium to cool the super-conducting magnet, which creates the strong magnetic field strength required for clarity and consistency while imaging.
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Patient care enhanced in Hawaii via MRIMay 26, 2022Dogs and cats in the Aloha State now have improved access to advanced care, thanks to a newly installed MRI in an Oahu 24-hour emergency and specialty care hospital.
CT or MRI? When to use each and whyMarch 15, 2019Use MRI for meningitis, encephalitis, fibrocartilaginous embolism, malignancy of liver tumors, muscle tears and strains, and cranial cruciate rupture, says Tony Pease, DVM, MS, DACVR, chief veterinary medical officer of the Western Veterinary Conference Oquendo Center in Las Vegas, Nev. For fragmented medial coronoid processes, dental disease, 3-D reconstructions, and small bone fractures, use CT, he advises. "In general, MRI can see more medically treated lesions, but CT and MRI can see lesions that are amenable with surgery," Dr. Pease says. "However, gastrointestinal lesions are questionable. The motion of the gastrointestinal tract makes large artifacts, as does metal (e.g. microchips), which is not a factor with CT as opposed to MRI." MRI is preferred whenever disease of the central nervous system is suspected, says Nathan C. Nelson DVM, MS, DACVR, clinical associate professor of radiology at the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine. "MRI has excellent ability to image soft tissue structures and is able to differentiate gray matter, white matter, nerves, and cerebrospinal fluid to a much greater extent than CT," Dr. Nelson says. "In any case, where brain disease is suspected—such as the acutely seizing dog or the dog with sudden behavior change—MRI is the …
