“Are you claustrophobic?”
That was one of the first questions UVA Imaging asked when I got an MRI recently. It made me a bit nervous. “Well, yes, but my head isn’t going in the machine, right?”
I was already anxious. I’d never had an MRI before, and the results were going to determine if I needed knee surgery. I didn’t know what to expect. Fortunately, the imaging team who worked with me was great and patiently answered my questions. The MRI itself was as stress-free as possible (and no, my head wasn’t in the machine). Within a couple of days, my doctor sent me a MyChart message with the results: I didn’t need surgery.
In this week’s podcast, Alan Matsumoto, MD, answers some frequently asked questions about MRIs, CT scans and other images, such as:
- What are the risks? Do you need to worry about radiation exposure?
- Why should you have it done by a specialized radiologist?
- How quickly will you get results?