The next generation of advanced medical imaging equipment arrived at Nantucket Cottage Hospital today with the delivery of a new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) unit from General Electric

The upgraded MRI unit will not only provide island residents with higher quality scans, but also faster service, and a number of new capabilities that will allow more patients to have diagnostic imaging completed right here on Nantucket, including gastro-intestinal imaging for conditions such as Crohn’s disease.

The new unit, a Signa HDxt 1.5T, arrived at NCH Monday morning and  replaced the previous unit that was more than 14-years-old. A 16-channel machine, the new MRI unit is two generations ahead of the old four-channel equipment, and is the same model that world-class institutions like Massachusetts General Hospital use for many types of imaging.

“The new MRI scanner in our department will allow us to perform imaging exams on the island that are equal to or better than the nation’s top medical centers,” said Nantucket Cottage Hospital’s associate director of radiology Dr. Anand Prabhakar.

MRI is a non-invasive diagnostic procedure that uses magnetic fields and radio frequencies to generate detailed anatomical and functional images. MRI scans have an advantage over some forms of scanning because they can image different types of organ tissue without ionizing radiation. In the most recent fiscal year, Nantucket Cottage Hospital completed 1,198 MRI procedures.

Nantucket Cottage Hospital’s affiliation with Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) means that many diagnostic images taken on Nantucket are analyzed by the team of world-class radiology specialists at MGH in Boston.

As Dr. Prabhakar put it, “Our patients get both the comfort of a community hospital and the world-renowned diagnostic imaging expertise of MGH. The Nantucket community now has direct access to expertise that others travel from all over the world to obtain.”

The upgraded scanner will also support the hospital’s expanded cancer care program, a collaboration with the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center that provides additional on-island hematology/oncology physician and nurse practitioner services.

Another benefit of the advanced technology is that the new MRI unit will allow for remote diagnostics by GE’s service engineers, who will be able to diagnose any problems without first having to travel to the island, a feature that should decrease downtime and reduce expenses.

The Signa HDxt 1.5T machine, which NCH will lease from GE for five years, is a mobile unit and will be stationed in the same location as the existing MRI machine at the hospital.