To de-stress the children before the examination, the hospital has acquired a fake rocket-shaped MRI

In its neuroradiology department, the Gui-de-Chauliac hospital, in Montpellier (Hérault), has installed a rocket. On the wall of this room, an astronaut is drawn, perched on a small planet, a flag in his hand. It almost feels like the bedroom of a child fascinated by space. This rocket is a simulator, which reproduces the sensations of an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging).

Thanks to the patrons of the Guilhem fund, the CHU has acquired this strange device, which aims to relieve the stress of young patients, aged 2 to 6, by showing them how it works, before rushing into the real MRI. And to make fun, and even rather pleasant, a medical procedure that can be a little stressful for the youngest. And for their parents. This tool makes it possible “to inform and entertain the child, so as to simulate an MRI examination, so that the child can carry out the real examination, in complete confidence”, confides Olivier Martin, health manager at the hospital of Montpelier.

Avoid general anesthesia

For 10 to 20 minutes, the young patient can thus explore the equipment, accompanied by a volunteer from the association Les Blouses roses or a member of the hospital staff, and become familiar with the noises he will hear during of the examination, with the lying position, and understand that he must remain completely still. Once reassured, he can enter the rocket, and give it a try, while watching cartoons. His passage through the simulator is recorded, which allows him to debrief with him afterwards.

Because the MRI is a long and noisy examination, “which, until now, required us, for the children who we could not calm down, to resort to general anesthesia, continues Olivier Martin. The objective of this equipment is to allow this examination to be carried out without general anesthesia. However, only children who are sufficiently cooperative, able to understand and listen to the instructions, are eligible for this simulator. »

A real asset for Nicolas Leboucq, the head of the pediatric neuroimaging medical team. “We have just obtained this tool in our service, indicates the doctor. But according to the feedback we have from other pediatric radio departments in the various French university hospitals, we have seen a real benefit, between 50 and 80% reduction in general anesthesia in these children. And the child, once the real examination has been carried out, is even entitled to a small gift from the team.