Medical center replaces MRI system hurricane destroyed

Published June 5, 2007
By Steve Pivnick
81st Medical Group Public Affairs

KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Keesler Medical Center's magnetic resonance imaging system is "up and running."
Located in the former X-ray film library in the rear of the 81st Medical Operations Squadron's radiology department, the MRI technicians currently are scanning a limited number of patients until radiologist and technician staffing increases this summer.

The new MRI magnet is twice as powerful as the one it replaces that was lost to Hurricane Katrina, according to Michael Alexander, installations project manager for General Electric Healthcare Technologies, the system's manufacturer.

"It's 3 tesla (a measurement of magnetic-field strength)," he explained. "The previous magnet was 1.5 tesla. It may be the only 3-tesla unit in any Air Force medical facility. This unit and one at Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg are probably the only 3-tesla systems in the state of Mississippi."

A 13-ton magnet, the heart of the system, was delivered Dec. 4. Placing it in the new location on the medical center's first floor was a complex matter. A crew from Machinery Movers of New Orleans had to lift it with a crane and delicately place it on special railing through a hole cut in the medical center's north wall. The riggers then carefully slid the magnet into place and lowered it to the floor. Once the remaining equipment was installed, the first patients were seen Feb. 5 after the staff had become certified on the system.

Installation of the new MRI is part of the "move up" plan initiated as a result of the damage Katrina inflicted on the medical center's high-value equipment, formerly located in the facility's basement, or ground floor.