19/02/2026
Ottawa, Ontario — Thursday February 19, 2026
Many young children need general anesthesia to get an MRI, but the loud, cramped scanner can be scary, and staying still can be hard. But anesthesia adds risk, increases costs, and can slow access by lengthening wait lists. What if there was a way for kids to practice the MRI first with virtual reality (VR) so they can do the real scan awake?
A CHEO RI-led prospective pilot study tested a short VR session that turns the experience of receiving a head MRI into an avatar led game, with 18 children completed a 10-minute VR simulation before their scheduled head MRI. Every child then undertook MRI while they were awake, even though they were originally booked for anesthesia.
The team included CHEO RI researchers Cassandra Kapoor, Neekita Gupta, Daniela Pohl, and Nick Barrowman and Ewa Sucha from the RI’s Clinical Research Unit who performed data analysis for the study which showed strong MRI scan quality: 44% were excellent, all scans were usable for diagnosis, and nearly all caregivers said VR prepared their child well for the procedure.
For families, having an MRI without needing general anesthesia may mean fewer fasting rules, less recovery time, and a calmer experience. For care teams, it points to a practical way to reduce anesthesia use while still getting diagnostic quality images, and could help tackle long wait lists.