Patients & participants

For two to three hours before your appointment, avoid drinking coffee and other diuretics that may require you to urinate often unless directed otherwise by your study coordinator.

In rare cases, certain types of eye makeup (especially eye liners) may cause problems with the MR images. You may wish to come without makeup to avoid having to remove it for the scan.

Bring only the minimum number of jewelry items (watches, rings, earrings, etc.), as all of these must be removed prior to scanning. Lockers are available in the dressing rooms.

If possible, dress in loose fitting, easy to change clothing. Avoid wearing athletic wear. You will need to change into a hospital gown or scrubs.

General Considerations

Once you arrive at the facility you will be screened by a radiographer for MR safety. They will either use your prefilled form, or a new one similar to this. Please answer truthfully as this regards your personal safety. You will then have to change into a hospital gown or scrubs to ensure that there is no metal in your clothing.

Once cleared you will enter the scan room and lie on a bed that transports you into the open chamber inside the MRI. You will be given ear protection as the scan can be very loud. Depending on the protocol you are enrolled in, you may relax, watch a movie, listen to music or you may need to follow commands, which may include breathing maneuvers or executing tasks. You may be connected to equipment that records some of your physiological signals (e.g., heartbeat, respiratory motion).

Depending on the protocol you are enrolled in, the visit may take between ½ to 2 hours to complete. We will advise you of the likely time before you enter the scanner or you may ask your study coordinator for further information. Once inside the scanner, you will be given a squeeze ball to alert us of any concerns or distress, and we will communicate with you and see you.

Additional Paediatric Considerations

If your child is receiving a scan, they will most likely engage in play therapy to prepare for the experience. If not, please contact us and we can arrange for it. We have a mock scanner for this purpose that can simulate an MR exam. Depending on the study and if your child is very young, they might be sedated or anaesthesised. Please follow the instructions of your study coordinator in that respect.

If your child is awake and needed, one parent may stay in the room with the child for comfort. In this case, the parent must prepare like a study participant (clothing, safety screening form) and use ear protection.

Depending on the study, your child may be able to watch a movie. We have a small selection, or you can bring a DVD, Blue-Ray disk or other medium to play.

Research Imaging NSW is recruiting healthy volunteers (18-65yo) for Development, Testing and Optimisation of Imaging techniques. This development work in healthy adult volunteers is necessary to maintain and progress the novel, cutting edge research protocols that are currently used for research and clinical imaging at our facility and elsewhere.

If you are interested to participate in this study, you must be between age 18-65 years and have no medical conditions or implanted devices that would preclude undergoing MRI scanning. You then will be asked to lie in the MRI scanner for about an hour. In very rare cases, ancillary devices such as a pulse oximeter to monitor blood gases, ECG to monitor your heart rate, EEG to monitor brain waves, or a breathing gas mask to deliver oxygen may be placed upon you. Then MR scans will be taken and we will use the information from your scan to optimise the MR exam and show the efficacy of the protocol being tested.

If you want to be added to our list of potential volunteers, please read how to register section.

If you are interested in our volunteer program, please read the Patient Information Sheet and Consent Form (PISCF) and email researchimaging@unsw.edu.au or call +61 468 596 3346 should you have any questions.

If you decide to take part in the optimisation study we will add you to our list of potential volunteers and contact you when opportunity arises.

Once we contact you and ask for your willingness to volunteer for a specific scan, we will ask you to:

• Read this information carefully and ask any questions you might have.
• Sign and return the consent form if you decide to participate in the study.
• Take a copy of this form with you to keep.

Note: this information is only posted for your information and only needs to be filled out once we make an appointment with you

If you decide not to take part in this research, your decision will not affect your relationship with The University of New South Wales.