Source: Instrument Sink
Recently, the LEGO Foundation announced the donation of 600 LEGO magnetic resonance models, which can be applied by radiologists in medical institutions around the world.
The project, which was launched in 2015, was developed by a team at Odense University Hospital in Denmark in collaboration with LEGO employees. Meanwhile, two radiologists from the United States and Belgium, Benjamin H. Taragin and Erik Ranschaert, and Belgian Lego artist Dirk Denoyelle, are involved in the project.
This model is designed to help clinicians explain the PROCESS OF MRI examination to children. The entire model is 13 cm wide, 25.5 cm long and 10.5 cm high, made by volunteers, donated to the hospital free of charge, not sold through commercial channels, and donated models cannot be sold or transferred to third parties.
The MRI model can also be opened to show children its internals and mechanisms, helping them understand what is going to happen next and avoiding their anxiety over the examination. To better make the MRI model work, the LEGO Foundation has also developed a program that allows hospital staff to use the model in a more fun way, reducing children's anxiety before check-up and helping them recover as quickly as possible.
According to the LEGO Foundation website, the MAGNETIC resonance model has been tested in nearly 100 radiology departments in countries such as Denmark, Norway, the United States, China and the United Kingdom.
In fact, the practice of using Lego to spell out a magnetic resonance model has been tried by more than one medical imaging industry insider.
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In 2019, "Device Hub" introduced a LEGO MRI model, launched by Apollo Exconde, a senior MRI technician in the UK, on the LEGO IDEAS website to reduce children's anxiety when doing MRI examinations. If there are more than 10,000 supporters, LEGO will investigate the idea. When Instrument Exchange introduced the model in December 2019, the program had already won the support of nearly 6,000 people.
It's an open magnetic resonance model with replaceable coils and can be transformed into other forms using existing LEGO particles. Promoter Exconde is also experimenting with making more elaborate models, such as putting magnets in them that attract metal.
The LEGO MRI model helps inform patients about the various stages of mrivisiology, including the placement of the head, body and coils, and can also be transformed into an upright magnetic resonance, CT, and dual-energy X-ray absorber (DEXA).
The purpose of this program is to help children who are curious and scared of mriograms. Through the LEGO model, children can understand magnetic resonance and reduce their sense of fear.
Exconde designed the model with the patient's advice and from the child's point of view, arguing that the sooner the model is given to the children, the better, allowing them to know what will happen during the scan, such as how deep the head is going to enter the device and how long it will take to scan.
The model also has a sliding countertop that shows where the patient's head and body will be on the device during the examination, what coils will be used, and how the patient will be positioned.
It was learned that the plan eventually reached the support of 10,000 people, successfully entered the research stage of Lego Company, and passed the first two research reviews. But regrettably, it was "killed" in the third review in 2020.
Apollo Exconde isn't the first to be interested in LEGO MRI. In recent years, some individuals or institutions abroad have tried to use Lego to make magnetic resonance models.
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Prior to Apollo Exconde, there had been a call for votes on the LEGO Creative website, but unfortunately failed to get the required number of support votes within the allotted time, and the project expired on October 19, 2018.
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Dr. Benjamin H. Taragin, a participant in the LEGO MRI project mentioned at the beginning of this article, proposed the idea of using LEGO bricks to form a MAGNETIC resonance model as early as 2015 and put it into practice. He is director of pediatric radiology at Montefiore Children's Hospital in New York and a board member of the Pediatric Radiology Society, an idea that became a hot topic at RSNA in 2015.
The inspiration came from a semicircular arc-shaped brick that Benjamin saw one day while accompanying his son to fight Lego, which reminded him of the pore opening of the magnetic resonance. With this in mind, he and his son began building a magnetic resonance model out of Lego bricks.
Once the model was built, he realized that it might be useful for the child life department of the hospital where he worked, and could be used for small patients preparing for MRI examinations. Although there are many large or small MRI models on the market, none of them are built with this kind of childlike building blocks, and the MAGNETIC RESONANCE model made of Lego is small and easy to carry.
Sure enough, the model was affirmed by the Department of Children's Life and thought it could be useful nationally and even internationally. So Benjamin and his colleagues decided to try to get support on the Lego ideas website.
While the original model was popular, after reading some of the supporters' posts about Lego's creativity, Benjamin and his son built a more realistic model.
▲ Improved LEGO magnetic resonance
But while the idea was well recognized by industry insiders, it was far from the number of supporters needed for lego sites. Benjamin used the power of social media to get the support of some of his peers in the industry, and after communication, they improved again and spelled out a new model.
▲ Re-improved LEGO magnetic resonance
In addition, it is possible to spell out a small MRI part model consisting only of the magnet itself, which would be cheaper if it could be put into mass production.
▲ Lego magnetic resonance composed only of the magnet itself
Benjamin envisions adding more elements to the model in the future, such as a LEGO-themed movie about mrI or downloading the entire MRI process with a smartphone to help young patients understand the loud sounds that come out of the MRI test in advance, which often scares children.
Although Benjamin's LEGO MRI creative project has not seen any subsequent progress, he is involved in the LEGO Foundation's MRI project, which will undoubtedly bring more professional advice to the production of THE MRI model.
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Also in 2015, someone posted a blog post on gizmodo, an American tech blog site, introducing a Lego magnetic resonance.
The creators of this LEGO MAGNETIC RESONANCE purchased a set of kits from the LEGO Research Institute, which contains products from various fields such as paleontologists, astronomers and chemists, but lacks neuroscientists in medicine. So he split several other kits and then selectively put them together to make a Lego magnetic resonance.
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Foreign avant-garde artist Sean Kenney is famous for designing and creating for clients using LEGO bricks, including LEGO magnetic resonances in his works, which were completed in 2017.
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Magnetic resonance examination time is longer, in general, a single examination site for magnetic resonance flat scan time of about 10 to 20 minutes, if the lesion is complex need to add a special examination sequence, the examination time will be longer. In addition, magnetic resonance imaging is noisy, and children who cannot actively cooperate with the examination often need to be sedated with drugs.
To relieve the nervousness of children when doing an MRI –
At present, foreign countries more use the method of creating theme environments to create a three-dimensional appearance that children like, wrap it in the imaging equipment like a skin, and turn the equipment into almost unrecognizable items, such as beaches, castles, etc.
Customizing related toys, fictional stories, and even making explanatory videos has also become a very popular method.
At The Will Cornell Medical Center at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in the United States, there is a "superhero" who is popular with children and can help young patients complete magnetic resonance imaging. Using this "superhero" device can help children reduce their fear of MRI and reduce the use of sedatives. The device, called MRI-am-a-Hero, also included a very special set of comic books, a cape, a Captain America and an Iron Man toy, an educational DVD, and a mini-model of the MAGNETIC RESONANCE device.
A whole set of things that MRI-am-a-Hero includes
The project began in 2014, when Will Cornell Medical teamed up with Marvel's customer customization team to create a comic book in which Captain America underwent an MRI and worked with Siemens to create the set. In the comic book, after a fierce battle, Captain America always feels a shoulder pain, so Iron Man urges him to do a MAGNETIC resonance test. The video on the DVD fictionalizes the story of a 10-year-old girl who recently underwent an MRI scan to let young patients know about the process of MRI. Children can play with mini-models of MRI devices in the waiting room, read comic books, or hold toys all the time during the exam. At the end of the examination, the younger patients are also given a heroic cloak as a reward for their heroic deeds.
The researchers found that after using this kit, the proportion of outpatients aged 4 to 15 who used magnetic resonance sedatives decreased by 5.6 percent. According to data from the article published in the Journal of the American Society of Radiology, a total of 4,234 cases of MRI were performed between January 2013 and October 2017, and the sedation rate dropped from 22.9% to 17.3%. Since the beginning of the project, the proportion of MRI examinations performed in a sedated state has been reduced by 40%. The most effective patients were aged 4 to 7 years, followed by 8 to 11 years of age, and the effect on those aged 12 to 15 years was not statistically significant.
At the 2021 ECR, Royal Philips announced a partnership with The Disney Company. The latter is a proprietary Disney story customized for Philips' Ambient Experience.
Under the agreement, Disney developed six videos that children can choose to watch while undergoing an MRI test. Disney said the video stories keep the kids in a good mood, but they aren't overly excited to move around or laugh loudly during the inspection.
These video stories, aimed at children ages 4 to 12, feature typical Disney original characters and simpler versions, including characters from the Star Wars, Avengers, Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse series, combining characters from different Disney movies into the same video — an experience that kids can only get at Disneyland.
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It is gratifying that the mainland is also paying more and more attention to the humanistic care of children's patients.
In 2017, the first set of picture books in China to alleviate children's anxiety in the series of picture books created by Shanghai Children's Medical Center and professional teams was officially published.
Subsequently, this set of picture books was adapted into a drama, and in early 2019, "Hospitalization, I Am Not Afraid" premiered at the Shanghai Children's Medical Center, becoming the first interactive experience drama in China to alleviate children's anxiety about medical treatment.
In addition, in February 2018, the Children's Hospital affiliated to Fudan University and the Children's Happy Club (China) jointly launched the country's first "Children's Fun with One Heart, Accompanied by Medical Paths" children's medical game counseling project base.
May every child be treated tenderly by the world
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