I had an open upright MRI years ago in another state, so when I found one here, I was thrilled. I'm…read morehighly claustrophobic, and also have an impossible time lying on my back due to severe back pain. My joy was short-lived.
I arrived 10 minutes before my scheduled appointment, and was told by the unfriendly front-desk girl that I was late. No one had told me to be there earlier; I live way on the other side of town, and S. Maryland Pkwy. is completely ripped up. When I got home, there was a message on my phone half an hour before the appointment time asking where I was.
The technician, Adriana, who did the MRI told me that I couldn't move at all during the test, not even during the time in-between the various sections of it. So I didn't, not one bit. She said if I did, the entire test would be invalidated. The room was also freezing, so she had put a sheet over my hands that were resting on a cube on my lap. She told me that she wouldn't be able to hear me, but if I needed help I should raise my hand. Wouldn't that then invalidate the whole test??
The last section of the test was the longest, seven minutes, she said. And when that ended, she said I was going to have to come back and have the entire MRI redone, because I had moved. I said I hadn't moved a muscle, so then she asked if I had taken a deep breath. I knew I had, so she said that was the reason. So why didn't she tell me not to take a deep breath along with the don't-move instruction that she kept repeating???
I was not about to do another 30+ mile round-trip to repeat the entire test and risk having to screw it up again if I did something as natural as breathing, so I told her to just have them send the report to the doctor as-is. She said she'd see what the doctor would do.
And that led into a nearly week-long odyssey. I'd call every day and never get through. I had the tech's extension #, but it would ring three times and disconnect. On the rare occasion that I got to speak to the tech, she changed her tune and said I'd only have to repeat the last part. So which part of what she told me was true - repeat the whole test, or just the last part??? Totally untrustworthy. Once again, I told her that I wanted it sent the way it was.
Finally, after six days, when I called and finally got through after another five attempts, she said the report had been sent to my doctor; I had her send it to me, which she did.
From beginning to end, the unprofessionalism and lack of honesty of this facility is a deal breaker. I also had to have a different MRI, and chose an open-sided MRI facility. The difference in the way I was treated was like night and day, and I dealt with the back problem and the claustrophobia just fine, thanks to the skill and caring of the techs at the other facility (see my review). LV Radiology's Upright MRI isn't worth the trade-off. Unfortunately, they're pretty much the only game in town for an Upright, but it's not worth it. Better off to suck it up and go for an Open MRI. It was a horrible experience made even worse by the incompetence of everyone there.