MRI - only 7 mins? Was I short changed?

Hello,

I recently had an MRI of my cervical spine at Pinderfields Hospital, I had read online that these usually take about 30-40 minutes, and I admitted to the radiologist that I was quite nervous. Just before I went in I asked how long it would be and they said just 7 minutes! The scan was actually not as bad as I was expecting, and now I've come away I'm really worried that they gave me a shorter scan because I was nervous! Like a quick wash on a washing machine? :blush: OK I was worried but didn't want them to do a lesser scan because of it...

Does anyone know how long such a scan would usually take, and if I could have been short changed? Is there such a thing as an MRI 'quick wash'? :)

Was worrying before the scan, now I'm worrying they didn't do it for long enough!! :wacko:

Thanks for any thoughts.......

My barium swallow was only 10 minutes because the radiologist wasn't concerned considering my age ect. usually if its shorter its because they didn't see anything concerning, they wouldn't short change you x

All the best :hugs:

I think that an MRI will take as long as they need to take depending on what they are scanning for. It's a waste of time and money otherwise.

They wouldn't short change you, its their professional integrity on the line.
Was it a full body scan MRI, or just a certain area?

It takes different lengths depending on what part of the body they are scanning, etc.

I've recently had a head and cervical spine MRI. On my letter it did say it would take 30mins per body part so I expected to be in the scanner around an hour! I'd say the head scan took around 20mins but the cervical spine was not as long.

I'm sure I read somewhere that the scanners come in different magnet field strengths from 0.5T - 3.0T and that the 3.0T is the fastest. I might be wrong on this! My scanner was a Siemens 1.5 Tesla. Maybe the scanner they used on you was faster? :unsure:

Because of my condition of NF, I have brain scans every 18-24 months as I have a small non cancerous lump, spot on the pons of brain (cannot be removed as it will kill me if attempted by surgery) these last between 30-45 minutes depending on how many images are being taken.
Spinal scan my specialist who deals with NF wanted me to have one done 24 months ago, this was a short one about 15 minutes, as for my abdominal MRI when the camera up the backside a possible pouch which is pretty comment, was under this scan for about 20 minutes, seems to be so movement as I heard the door open from the scanner room.

As an mri radiographer cervical spine can be done in 7-9 minutes.

Average time is 10-15 mins, scans can be speeded up if the radiographer knows you are claustrophobic. This will not affect diagnosis. Image quality is slightly reduced but overall good quality images can be gained in 7-8 minutes