Huge Medical Devices Service Large Animal Patients

"Purdue will be using the first equine-capable, high-field-strength, magnetic resonance imaging unit in Indiana," said Mimi Arighi this week. She's an associate professor and director of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

Arighi added, "The MRI is instrumental in diagnosing a variety of conditions, many of which cannot be detected using other forms of diagnostic imaging, in small and large animals. This machine and its new suite, as well as the new adjacent computed tomography suite, allows us to improve the care we provide animals."

This is no ordinary MRI unit. The full suite takes up more than 1,100 square feet, which allows for the horse, or other animal patient, and needed medical staff.

"The MRI uses strong magnetic fields and radiofrequency pulse to produce images with superior soft tissue contrast and excellent detail," said James Naughton, a clinical assistant professor of radiology. "This imaging technology will facilitate the diagnosis of cancer and developmental and inflammatory disease of the brain, skull and spinal column in animals of all sizes. We also will be able to assess the extent of soft tissue disease and cancer for surgical and radiation therapy planning and treatment. It also will be used in the diagnosis of disease in the head and lower limbs of large animals, most commonly the horse."

At present, the diagnostic imaging section is examining 17 small animals per month, with about 4 large animals per month anticipated from now on. It's not an easy effort. Large animals receiving an MRI must be anesthetized and placed on a non-magnetic table that has been specially designed and built for animals that weigh more than 500 pounds. The same services can be offered for cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, llamas and alpacas.