G scan – an Open Standing MRI scanner launched at Apollo Delhi!

Paving the way towards addressing the ever evolving and complex healthcare environment in India, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals has installed a first-of-its-kind cutting edge technology G (Gravity) Scan – an open standing MRI scanner.

This new open standing MRI Machine is a revolutionary platform for musculoskeletal applications including the spine, which provides surgeons a unique additional diagnostic element.

When lying down, the patient hardly puts weight on the lower limb because of which a conventional MRI scan cannot detect some vital problems and deviations. This technology enables true weight-bearing examination, which was not possible before and was one of the greatest challenges to MRI.

By allowing scanning in standing position, the technology also helps doctors diagnose functional alignments of patients’ joints and whether the condition will get worse. In addition, the machine is open and thus most friendly for patients who have claustrophobia (fear of small closed-in space).

One can have various tilting positions such as 45 degrees, 90 degrees etc on this machine – the standing MRI, which uses the principle of gravity in giving added advantage in diagnosing spinal diseases and musculoskeletal disorders of the patients including joints.

The open standing MRI Machine would be also be a critical diagnostic tool for patients who continue to experience pain after spine surgery because it can evaluate the role and effect of patients’ weight on the curvature of spine, which cannot be accurately analyzed with conventional MRI Machines. Such patients can now hope to get proper and accurate spine surgery done, as with this scan the surgeons would have an exact idea and better analysis of the extent and nature of injury, visualized along with the effect of gravitational forces.