Please remember to bring your referral form and, if possible, any previous findings and recordings, as well as your current blood values (creatinine) if applicable.

Before the examination begins, you must remove all metal objects. This includes smartphones, watches, hearing aids, and check and credit cards. Metal parts in the body, such as fixed dentures, joint prostheses, or metal plates following surgery, do not generally constitute contraindications. If you have a metal IUD, a gynecological check-up to check its position is recommended after the examination. Please note the contraindications listed below!

During the examination, you will lie on a table that will initially move slowly into the opening of the device, i.e., toward the magnet. You will then be either completely or partially inside the device, for example, during an examination of the knee joint.

Magnetic fields that switch on and off generate relatively loud, knocking noises that are harmless but which some patients find disturbing. You will therefore be given earplugs or closed ear protection. Depending on the area of the body being examined and the issue being investigated, the examination takes between a few minutes and half an hour. In some cases, the administration of a sedative—not a sleeping pill—can help. You should have this prescribed in advance and bring it with you to the examination. This makes MR examinations possible for almost all patients without any problems. In such cases, please remember to bring someone with you, as you will not be allowed to drive yourself after the examination.

Compared to CT, MRI is a "slow" examination. It is therefore important not to move during the examination and to follow the breathing instructions strictly. Otherwise, the images will be blurred and difficult to evaluate in some cases.

During an MRI examination, it may be necessary to inject a special contrast agent. The injection is administered into a vein. The access is established before the examination. The administration of the contrast agent is generally safe. We only use ring-shaped MR contrast agents, for which side effects have only been reported in isolated cases to date. Since the contrast agent is largely excreted by the kidneys, we need to know the creatinine level of all patients with kidney disease. The literature describes gadolinium deposits in the brain, the significance of which has not yet been fully clarified. These deposits mainly concerned linear contrast agents. We would like to emphasize that, despite millions of applications, no clinical side effects due to deposits in the brain or similar have been reported with the ring-shaped MR contrast agents we use. Skin and tissue changes, in particular NSF (nephrogenic systemic fibrosis), have been described in patients with impaired kidney function. These changes are not known to occur in patients with normal kidney function. The contrast agents we use are the latest generation of contrast agents – side effects of contrast agents are rare overall.