Mri without GA

[elliejjtiny]

Ds needs to have an MRI scan. He is 9, nearly 10 and has a moderate learning disability. He has had 6 MRI scans before, last one was 4 years ago. First 2 scans he was under 6 months so I just fed him and swaddled him. All the others he had a GA. Last time the Drs thought he would cope so they tried to do it without anything, with sedation and then finally under GA when the first 2 attempts didn't work. Naturally with each attempt he got more and more upset and it was awful for us both.

So now, even though it's been 4 years I'm nervous of it all going pear shaped again and having to have 3 goes at doing it. Also I'm worried he won't be able to keep still in the scanner. Any tips?

Many hospitals now have play specialists that could work with your son beforehand, the department may even have a ‘toy’ scanner that he can visit in advance. There are also ‘cartoony’ videos on YouTube that he could watch? Good luck, I hope it goes well!

Does your department have a scanner where you can watch a dvd? This really helped my son but not all have them.

My 9yr old DS was able to tolerate a head MRI with no intervention eg sedation or even a DVD. However he doesn't have any learning disability so we were able to talk about it before hand and promise a treat afterwards. I guess only you know how well your son will be able to cope

My son has had multiple MRIs since he was 2 - but from about the age of 4 he has managed to have them without GA (he had a ridiculous number of GAs for radiation treatment already).

I think that preparation well before the MRI can help. I just got a big carboard box, opened it out on one side and made him lay down with it on top of him - then made lots of loud noises (not really loud obvs) and asked him to see if he could stay as still as possible. So, a kind of improvised play therapy.
However, if he is really really anxious about it, and doesn't get beyond the anxiety- just ask the drs to give him some kind of sedation. It may be a little inconvenient for the hospital, but you have to advocate for your son, some people (adults included) find the confinement and noise more than they can bear.
My son had a complete aversion to masks (for anaesthesia for instance) and putting him through it was just too traumatising. So when we could advocate for a different approach to GA (injection) we did (not all anaethetists would accommodate).