Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Improvement for Children

A miniature MRI scanner (a replica of the real machine) is displayed on the ward or in the clinic for the child to look at and for the child's parent to operate. The child patient sits at the same table and works with their parent to move and control the device, which prepares them emotionally for entering the real MRI scanner and removes the need for a general anaesthetic during the scan.

Children aged 4 to 13 attending the MRI department.

• King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre – Riyadh.
• King Fahad National Centre for Children's Cancer – Riyadh.

SAR 320,000.

• Reducing the fear of MRI scans among children and their families.
• Reducing the risks of general anaesthesia for the child and its side effects.
• Reducing the time a child patient spends inside the scanning rooms, and so increasing the number of children served.

• 70 patients a month who no longer need anaesthesia.
• 480 patients a year who no longer need anaesthesia.
• The radiology department at King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre – Riyadh and King Fahad National Centre for Children's Cancer receives around 1,000 visitors a day.