One of the biggest breakthroughs
in medical examination technology has been the development, in the 1970s and
80s, of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This medical imaging technique by
means of magnetic fields, gradients and radio waves, has been producing clear
visual representations of the human body’s interior and has been extremely
helpful in numerous clinical diagnoses. Nevertheless, for all its value a
number of medical patients who can benefit from an MRI-informed examination are
often leery of the apparatuses used in the procedure, which normally triggers
anxieties due to the confined space when the patient lies prone for the scan.
A UK-based Filipino radiographer,
Apollo Exconde has known a lot of these uneasy patients that have had issues
with the MRI machine at the InHealth Croydon University Hospital. Either they
did not like the cramped space for claustrophobic reasons or the MRI coils that
do the scanning process are too small to accommodate plus-sized examinees. To reassure
patients as Inquirer.net tells it,
Exconde proposed to create a scale model build, using Lego bricks, of an “open”
MRI machine for plus-size patients or those with anxieties and phobias for
enclosed spaces.
Earlier this year the build was
then proposed to Lego Ideas, an online platform where user-customized designs
can be submitted for a chance to be chosen for mass-production as an official
Lego kit under the Ideas label. A product proposal like Exconde’s Open MRI
Machine would need 10,000 votes of support from members of the Lego Ideas
website to be eligible for review by Lego staff. Months after its initial
posting, the Lego MRI setup has over 4,000 supporters or nearly half the goal,
with more than 300 days left to make its 10K quota. Exconde remarked that he
used the Lego building-block toy line to demonstrate MRI tech because it
appeals to all ages.
Apollo Exconde’s Open MRI design
shows a roomier sliding table for the patient to lie down in. The scanner is
open not just to the patient’s top and bottom (while lying down) but also his
right side, allowing light to enter for a less foreboding and cramped quarters.
The Lego set also includes three interchangeable shapes for the MRI coil,
shaped to scan examinees’ heads, limbs and torso as needed. The setup also
includes a control station where the radiographer, like Exconde will be
stationed. Two minifigures, operator and patient, are included in the build.
Images of the Open MRI build by
Exconde can be seen on its proposal page at the Lego Ideas website. Registered
members of the service will be able to cast their votes for the submission to
give it a chance to become an official set.
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