[BIC-announce] Update on 3T MRI

[Richard Hoge, Dr.]

Dear all,

The mechanical upgrade of the 3T scanner has largely concluded according to schedule, despite the recent blizzard and some difficulties during delivery of the gradient coil.  The system is shimmed and ready to image, with the techs expected to undergo training next week.

Unfortunately, McGill Facilities has advised us that upgrades to the exterior quench pipes will continue through April and both the 1.5 and 3T systems must be ramped down for this to ensure safety of the workers.  We will therefore have to delay the in-service date beyond the original projection of April 10, 2017.  It is difficult to give a precise completion date, but current estimates from Facilities have the work finishing between May 8 and 12 (best and worst-case scenarios).  Facilities worked very hard to have the quench pipe work carried out in parallel with the MRI downtime required for the upgrade, but this was ultimately not possible.

I am sure that all MRI users will share my disappointment at the delay, and I appreciate the significant burden for researchers created by further downtime and the need to reschedule.  As has been discussed earlier, the quench system must be updated to address critical safety concerns; deferring this work could lead to even larger MRI service disruptions later.  Judy and members of the MR team will help with rescheduling of scans currently booked in April.

I would encourage researchers to make arrangements with members of the MR team to visit the upgraded scanner during the extended downtime, to familiarize themselves with new coils and other hardware.  We have been able to retain a 32-channel coil that is identical to the old one, but no longer have a 12-channel coil.  There are also new head/neck coils with 20 and 64 channels.

I will update when I get a better estimate of the new in-service date, and will also be presenting at April 10th’s Feindel lecture to discuss the Prisma upgrade.

Thanks to all for your patience and support during this process,

Rick

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Rick Hoge, Ph.D.
Program Director for MRI
McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute
Associate Professor, Dept. of Neurology & Neurosurgery
Associate Member, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
McGill University
rick.hoge at mcgill.ca<mailto:rick.hoge at mcgill.ca>
514-398-1929


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