Integrated Video Experience for MRI patients

Abstract

Since its introduction, physicians around the world have largely used Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as diagnostic technique. It has been demonstrated that the patient experience during the MRI scan influences their breathing, and with that the scan time and image quality. Reducing the data acquisition time means to decrease the chance to incur into physiological distresses or to limit the set of physical constraints implicit within the MRI scanner. In this direction a research on a novel technique to guide a subjects’ breathing pattern through the use of a projected video has been carried out by the Basel University Hospital in Switzerland. This graduation project is based on that research and it is about the design of an integrated video experience for MRI patients to reduce phycological distresses by improving the respiratory efficiency and as a consequence the imaging time. On the market there are already three MRI video systems that could be used to show the video developed by the hospital. However these systems lacks in term of engagement and some of them may cause disorientation to the patient. Moreover most of these systems are not designed for a daily use. A new projection system has been developed with the aim of decreasing the patient stress by engaging him with a video screen placed in proximity of the patient face. This screen solution together with an innovative video projection technique designed by Knowledge Resources (Basel, Switzerland) allows to watch the video at any stage of the examination. The advantage is that the patient starts the immersing video experience before to enter in the scanner bore and it ends immediately after he his driven out. In particular this system help the first time MRI users to cope with the high stress level of entering inside the scanner bore. To prevent disorientation or dizziness the projection screen has been designed to do not completely exclude the patient from the outside environment. In particular the screen do not completely fill the field of view of the patient in order to let him to control what is happing around. Unlike the video systems already on the market this is the first example of an MRI video system who has been designed with the principal aim of decreasing the patient stress. The entire video system has been designed to be placed inside the MRI suite that is regulated by a specific product restriction. A working prototype of the video system has been produced with the aim of testing the video system principle and the user experience. However the short time nature of the project did not let the student to do that. In this direction those tests should be conducted by the client before to decide what is the next step in this project.