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Getting an MRI of the spine can take a long time.

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Are there any options to make it shorter?

3
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That's an interesting question.

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As a neurosurgeon and researcher
here at CHEO, we wanted to see

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if there was a more efficient,
and just as effective way for us to get

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an MRI scan of a patient's spine
without having to take as many images

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which often require us to sedate patients
for long periods of time.

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I designed a study
that reviewed MRI scans done here at CHEO

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between 2017 and 2020.

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I wanted to see if taking fewer images
could provide

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similar information about a number
of common clinical conditions

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compared to traditional MRI scans,
which are much more lengthy.

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We had two blinded Neuroradiologists
review

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the limited protocol MRI scan,

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and then compared the results
to the conventional MRI scan.

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A total of 105 studies were evaluated,

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and what we found
was that compared to traditional MRI

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scans, which take upwards of 35 minutes,

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the shortened MRI protocol
only took 15 minutes.

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We also found that the percent agreement

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between using the shortened MRI protocol
compared to traditional

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MRI scan was 95%
or more for the majority of conditions.

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This study demonstrates that using fewer
specific images of the spine

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still provides accurate diagnosis
of a number of common clinical conditions.

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A shortened imaging protocol
has a lot of potential as a screening test

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and reduces the need for a much longer MRI
scan requiring general anesthetic.

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This in turn reduces resources and time

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required in the hospital
and also reduces stress for kids.