Patients with certain conditions that may prevent them from staying still in the MRI machine, such as claustrophobia, anxiety, or a condition that causes physical pain, may have an MRI with anesthesia. It is also common for children to have an MRI with anesthesia, since it is often difficult for them to remain still.
Lying still is critical to ensuring that the MRI pictures taken will be accurate and clear. Before the scan, the anesthesiologist will put you into a very light sedated state to help alleviate any fear or anxiety.
Patients requiring sedation were compared by these criteria to all non-sedated members over 18 years of age in the cohort who acted as a control. Of the 939 patients 134 (14.3%) required oral sedation, i.v. sedation, or general anesthesia to tolerate MRI.
Infants can be scanned without sedation in some cases using feed and swaddle, but longer and more complex scans in older infants might require sedation. Young children (ages 1–6 years) usually require sedation for studies other than rapid ventricle checks.
Depending on the procedure, the level of sedation may range from minimal (you'll feel drowsy but able to talk) to deep (you probably won't remember the procedure). Moderate or deep sedation may slow your breathing, and in some cases, you may be given oxygen. Analgesia may also contribute to drowsiness.
Sedation, often referred to as “twilight sedation”, involves administering drugs that make a patient sleepy, relaxed and unfocused. While you are not forced unconscious like with general anesthesia, you may naturally fall asleep due to drowsiness.
Some patients may experience brief periods of sleep. Patients who receive conscious sedation are usually able to speak and respond to verbal cues throughout the procedure, communicating any discomfort they may experience to the provider. A brief period of amnesia may erase any memory of the procedures.
It's also used during MRI exams for adults who struggle with anxiety and claustrophobia. A third common use is for interventional radiology procedures. Although radiology certainly makes use of necessary sedation, it's usually not the kind that puts you to sleep. Instead, it helps you relax and stay calm.
Lying still is critical to insuring that the MRI pictures taken will be accurate and clear. Prior to the scan, the Board Certified Anesthesiologist will put you into a very light sleep to help you relax and minimize any fear or anxiety.
Oral Benzodiazepines
Many patients find that an oral benzodiazepine, such as Xanax, Ativan, or Valium, taken prior to the exam sufficiently relieves their anxiety and allows them to complete an MRI with relative ease.
Anesthesia will add at least thirty minutes, often more. The MRI scan itself can take anywhere from 20 to 80 minutes. You can ask your care team for a time estimate for your individual procedure. When you have anesthesia, you will need to recover in the PACU afterwards for about one to two hours.
When in doubt, you can request a very light relaxation medication like Ativan to settle nerves during an MRI. Make sure you also take your antispasmodic medications, if they've been prescribed.
Dexmedetomidine acts on the alpha-2 receptor to produce a natural sleep-like condition [4], and is thus used for MRI sedation in patients with claustrophobia [5,6].
You must lie very still during the scan. If you move, the MRI scan pictures may not be clear. Your primary care physician may order you a mild sedative if you are claustrophobic (afraid of closed spaces), have a hard time staying still, or have chronic pain.
Since the MRI machines are magnets, it is best to not apply deodorants, antiperspirants, perfumes, or body lotions before the examination. These items contain metals that might interfere with the magnetic field inside the MRI machine and cause you to have distorted images and wrong results.
In most cases, a family member or friend may enter the MRI room with you and stay with you throughout your exam.
They can talk with you and be there to support you during and after the examination. They can also drive you home if you have sedative medicine during the examination. If you do take sedative medication, you cannot drive yourself.
There aren't any side-effects from the MRI scan itself. However, if you've had an injection of contrast medium (dye) as part of the investigation, you may have some side-effects which might include a skin rash, dizziness, a headache, and nausea.
It is very important to remain still during your MRI scan as any movement can cause blurring on the images. If you cough during the scan and the images are not clear, we may need to repeat the scan. We will give you a call bell so if you are going to cough a lot then you can press that and we will pause the scan.
Deep sedation is nearly the same as general anesthesia, meaning that the patient is deeply asleep though able to breathe without assistance. Deep sedation with a medication called propofol is often used for procedures such as upper endoscopy or colonoscopy.
If you're having general anesthesia, an anesthesiologist will give you medications that make you lose consciousness. After the surgery is complete, he or she will reverse the medication so that you regain consciousness — but you won't be wide awake right away.
It is possible that patients can hear and feel what is going on around them, even when apparently unconscious, but they might be too sleepy to respond when we speak to them or hold their hand. This is the reason that the nurses explain everything they are doing to the patient and why.
Nursing and other medical staff usually talk to sedated people and tell them what is happening as they may be able to hear even if they can't respond. Some people had only vague memories whilst under sedation. They'd heard voices but couldn't remember the conversations or the people involved.
So if there's kidney or liver failure, again sedatives or opiates can't be metabolized by the body. They stay in the body system much longer and then there is a delay in waking up. So, for example, for kidney failure, you could treat that with dialysis.