From Hitachi Medical Systems America, Inc.;
the AIRIS made its debut in 1995. Hitachi followed up with the AIRIS II system, which has proven equally successfully. 'All told, Hitachi has installed more than 1,000 MRI systems in the U.S., holding more than 17 percent of the total U.S. MRI installed base, and more than half of the installed base of open MR systems,' says Antonio Garcia, Frost and Sullivan industry research analyst. Now Altaire employs a blend of innovative Hitachi features called VOSIâ„¢ technology, optimizing each sub-system's performance in concert with the other sub-systems, to give the seamless mix of high-field performance and the patient comfort, especially for claustrophobic patients, of open MR systems.

A description of the factors used in creating an image should include the type and times of the pulse sequence, the number of signals averaged or added (NSA), the size of the reconstructed region, the size of the acquisition matrix in each direction, field of view and the slice thickness; usually printed at the border of MRI pictures.

Manufactured by Esaote S.p.A.; compact in-office MRI system, fits in a 90 ft² (8.4 m²) space and requires no shielding or special power. This low field MRI magnet is optimized for orthopedic use and imaging of the extremities.
The C-SCANâ„¢ is developed from the ARTOSCANâ„¢ - M with a new computer platform, and is also known as Artoscan C.
Esaote North America and Hologic Inc. are the U.S. distributors of this MRI device.

Cervical spine MRI is a suitable tool in the assessment of all cervical spine (vertebrae C1 - C7) segments (computed tomography (CT) images may be unsatisfactory close to the thoracic spine due to shoulder artifacts). The cervical spine is particularly susceptible to degenerative problems caused by the complex anatomy and its large range of motion.
Advantages of magnetic resonance imaging MRI are the high soft tissue contrast (particularly important in diagnostics of the spinal cord), the ability to display the entire spine in sagittal views and the capacity of 3D visualization. Magnetic resonance myelography is a useful supplement to conventional MRI examinations in the investigation of cervical stenosis. Myelographic sequences result in MR images with high contrast that are similar in appearance to conventional myelograms. Additionally, open MRI studies provide the possibility of weight-bearing MRI scan to evaluate structural positional and kinetic changes of the cervical spine.
Indications of cervical spine MRI scans include the assessment of soft disc herniations, suspicion of disc hernia recurrence after operation, cervical spondylosis, osteophytes, joint arthrosis, spinal canal lesions (tumors, multiple sclerosis, etc.), bone diseases (infection, inflammation, tumoral infiltration) and paravertebral spaces.
State-of-the-art phased array spine coils and high performance MRI machines provide high image quality and short scan time. Imaging protocols for the cervical spine includes sagittal T1 weighted and T2 weighted sequences with 3-4 mm slice thickness and axial slices; usually contiguous from C2 through T1. Additionally, T2 fat suppressed and T1 post contrast images are often useful in spine imaging.

See also Lumbar Spine MRI.

(DQA) This MRI scan or MRI procedure is used by system operators to verify system operation based on relevant image quality parameters like e.g., SNR, slice thickness, geometric distortion, slice position, image resolution and ghosting.
The quality assurance should carry out according to instructions of the manufacturer, normally using the head coil. In addition, SNR can be measured monthly on a selection of commonly used coils. Weekly recording of these parameters is recommended for clinical MRI machines, as this allows early detecting of deviations from acceptable limits.