Cats, horses, sea turtle early subjects for veterinary college's new MRI

An MRI scanner delivered to the Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown in May has been operational for a couple of months now and is making a big difference there.

"It's been a tremendous addition to our facility here," AVC operations manager Marven MacLean said of the magnetic resonance imaging machine.

MRIs use a magnetic field and computer-generated radio waves to create high-resolution images of bones and soft tissues in a non-invasive way. The scans produced can help doctors pinpoint a variety of problems, including issues in brains, spinal cords and hearts. 

Since training started on May 15, 40 animals have been examined by the machine, including horses, cats, and a dog that came in with partial paralysis.

"We identified where the lesion was, went to surgery, and that dog ended up walking out of here. That is an amazing story in itself," MacLean said.

"Having this unit within the facility now gives us the ability to act much more quickly in diagnosing certain things."

Installing the machine was a huge undertaking, said MacLean, requiring renovations to the building.

The service is expensive, with a charge of $1,500 to $2,500 for a scan. MacLean expects it to be of particular interest for the local racehorse industry.

It will expand possibilities for resident veterinarians as well. Residents in radiology or in some surgical disciplines require MRI practice, which previously had to be done at another school.

The scanner also opens research possibilities.

"We have had the opportunity to do an MRI on a sea turtle that washed up on shore," said MacLean. "That has had some huge learning and research component to it that has certainly been valuable as well."

There is a possibility the college's machine could be used for human patients if needed, said MacLean, but that would require further renovations.

Before the college had its own MRI machine, some small animals were taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown for scans when that unit wasn't needed for human diagnosis. 

The college also has its own computerized tomography or CT unit for detecting issues in the animals it treats.