Background: With a longer waiting list for paediatric MRI performed under general anaesthesia (GA) and considering safety concerns, the Royal Children's Hospital Brisbane established a mock MRI service. The aim of this service is to reduce the requirement for MRI under GA.
Objective: The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that the percentage of children ages 3 years to 14 years in the study period that required general anaesthesia would be less with mock MRI when compared to standard practise.
Materials and methods: A retrospective audit of clinical data was conducted to examine the impact of mock MRI on the GA rate for clinical MRI.
Results: Results indicated the addition of a mock MRI reduced the need for GA most significantly for children ages 3 to 8 years. In this age group, the rate of GA was 16.8% lower than that of the non-mock MRI group (P = <0.05).
Conclusion: Mock MRI reduces the need for GA in children with the greatest effect evident in children aged between 3 and 8 years.