Brain MRI

[Ljd401]

Has anyone’s child had to face a brain MRI? My little one is 6 and I’m worried he won’t lay still enough. They didn’t mention sedation.
Thanks very much.

Not a brain mri but my 4 year old has had 2 full body mris. Hers usually take 2-2.5 hours, and she will.continue to have them 6 monthly. she has general anesthetic.

Many MRI departments these days use play therapists and some have ‘toy’ simulator scanners that the child can practice lying still, so the number of children who need sedation or a GA is greatly reduced. You can look up videos on YouTube and start practicing with them yourself if you think they may co operate. Disappointing that the consultant or hospital hasn’t given you any guidance so far though.

My DD had a full body MRI at 6. The staff will talk your DD through it but we found it helpful to watch a couple of videos online about the process in advance of the appointment too. She should be given the option to listen to stories/music through the headphones.

DD has had MRIs at three different hospitals and all of them have had me sit in a chair next to the scanner. Between sequences, when there is a gap
(you can ask the technician to tell you) I will sometimes check in with DD if I sense she is getting restless. Just a very quick lift up one side of the headphones, tell her she’s doing brilliantly and to carry on being so still, kiss on the forehead and then sit back down.

One tip would be for both of you to dress warmly but ensuring your clothing doesn’t have any metal. We both find the scanner rooms cold and we’re both more likely to fidget if we’re freezing!

Take a book for you to read yourself. It is very long and boring for the parent too and far too much time to overthink your child’s health situation while you’re sitting there.

Sorry that you’re in a situation where this is needed.

My DS has been having brain MRI's since he was 5, following a brain tumour discovery. The first year he had them under GA, then nothing as it was felt he needed to get used to them (he'll likely have them for life).

He's never had an issue. A couple of times he's been a bit wriggly so they take slightly longer. He's always had someone sat in the room with him

@familyissues12345 so sorry to read about your son’s diagnosis. This is what I’m really scared about and have been worrying since August. My 6 year old son has been having headaches and they seem to be increasing in frequency now. He’s had head pain on both days over the weekend. I can’t sleep. Up tonight in tears.

My DD also had general anaesthetic for hers. All clear thankfully. 😅

@TheGirlattheBack so pleased to hear this. Was this to rule out a brain tumour?

He'll probably have a GA.

You'll probably be sent a letter, with admission details for a ward/ daycase unit.

Oh bless you (and him!), to give you positivity, that little 5 year old is about to turn 16 and is now big and hairy ❤️

I'll be amazed if they don't give your little one either GA or some sort of sedation. If it appears they won't be (do you have an appointment before?), you could ask for someone from the play therapy team to take your little chap down to the scanner room to have a look at the machine x

Due to neurological symptoms - BT was one of the possible outcomes.

They won't necessarily give a GA. Our "awake" scan services starts with kids as young as 4 or 5.

We have a play MRI and a play specialist who talks them through it. The kids then go into the "real" scanner. Their parents can go in with them providing they have no contraindications to an MRI. The success rate is really high and they kids get such a sense of achievement.

Can you go back to the person who referred you to clarify? If it's under GA they should have talked about that specifically.

Thanks everyone. He won’t be having sedation or a GA as they don’t do that at this hospital. Wish us luck as we are going for it this morning.x

We do a bedtime MR list. The children come in wearing pjs in the evening. We have managed to make a significant reduction in GA requirements as a result.

Hopefully there will be a screen in it. One of mine had to have MRI’s monthly as a child, they got to pick what was being put on when they went in. Was always large choice, episode of this, movie of that, episode of something else. It works.i understand it adds significant cost to the MRI set up but all paed hospital MRIs seem to have this.

They still need frequent MRI’s as an adult but these don’t have screen facilities, as an adult you are just expected to pull up your pants and get on with it🤣.

soery, no advice, but sounds pretty serious so wishing your dc a speedy recovery.

Just read latest post, hope it goes well.

@HoppingPavlova sadly no screen but they were brilliant with him
and he was brilliant too. He kept so still and was good as gold.

Thank you everyone for your replies. We will get the results tomorrow afternoon. Please keep your fingers crossed for us.

So good to hear it went well, such a relief for you after not knowing how it would go, because it’s such an important thing they NEED (no one is doing it for shits and giggles).

Fingers crossed and wishing all the best🙏

Glad it went well. Hoping it’s nothing sinister, but you also get some answers.
(and fingers are crossed).

I'm so pleased you get the results quickly, our hospital has a 2 week turn around!

I'll be thinking of you tomorrow xx

That's a great turn around, and hopefully all good news, I can imagine how anxious you must be x

Thinking of you, please let us know when you can x

Hope all went well @Ljd401 and results came back clear x

Did you get your results? Hope they were all clear x