(1/28/13) – The installation process is underway for the new MRI for patients in Horry County and beyond. McLeod Seacoast is currently the only facility in the Coastal Carolinas to install this revolutionary new machine designed to help maximize comfort for patients undergoing MR exams. The Optima*MR450w was delivered this month and placed in its new home in the McLeod Seacoast Radiology Department. 

The GE MRI system now available at McLeod Seacoast offers patients more space for utmost comfort, including a cushion designed to alleviate pressure points. The comfortable, flexible cushion coils follow body contours while facilitating high resolution imaging of the entire body. 

Reginald Cooks, Director of Radiology at McLeod Loris Seacoast, and the Radiology team are pleased they can offer this new technology to their patients. “The new MRI is the latest and greatest that GE has to offer. Patients of all sizes will be better accommodated, and patients who are plagued with claustrophobia will be more at ease due to the more spacious structure.” 

“We will also be able to perform procedures at McLeod Seacoast that previously were only available at McLeod Loris, such as imaging of the abdomen and blood vessels. In addition, we are renovating the MRI department in order to improve the safety requirements needed for high field MRI’s,” said Cooks. 

The new MRI system will be unveiled and in service in March 2013.