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TIL before CT and MRI’s were available, doctors used to replace the fluid in and around the brain with air to do imaging with X-rays.

Pneumoencephalography - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pneumoencephalography

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1779005

Apparently this was done because air captures less X-rays than CSF and thus creates more contrast with brain tissue compared to the cerebrospinal fluid.

Unfortunately this was pretty painful and uncomfortable.

17 comments

SomeoneElse

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Jesus Christ. I will never again complain about noisy, claustrophobic MRI machines.

SuperSoftAbby

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I’m still not sure why every one hates them. I found my CT experience pretty soothing.

SomeoneElse

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CT scans and MRIs are two different types of scans, done in different machines. A CT machine like a doughnut on its side - the hole you go in is wider and shorter. MRIs are more coffin-tubed shaped. If you go in feet first (for an MRI scan on your knee say) it’s ok because your head is on the outside. If you’re having a brain scan you go in head first, your head stabilised by a plastic support so you can’t move it. It’s so narrow in there you can’t bend your arm up 90 degrees, let alone sit up. The stabiliser stops you from moving at all. They put foam ear plugs in your ears and then big over ear headphones over that so the tech can talk to you and you’re not crippled by the noise. There’s a tiny mirror above your eyes, angled to you can see out of the tube. I’m not claustrophobic at all and I have to fight panic when I’m im in there. I think you may have had CT scans in the past, not MRIs. And if you had a MRI, you probably didn’t go in head first because it’s not really an experience anyone could describe as relaxing. Well maybe cave divers, or people who make homemade submarines might find it relaxing, but for your average joe it’s unpleasant.

emeralddawn45

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That sounds super peaceful actually, but I'm very much the opposite of claustrophobic. I bury myself in blankets and pillows, and try to find the smallest area I can comfortably fit myself into to relax. I love forts and small spaces and sensory deprivation, so like you said, not the average Joe.

SomeoneElse

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I think that sounds super peaceful actually

That’s the thing, it’s not peaceful. It’s unbelievably loud, like standing next to a car alarm or construction site. And every time you’ve finally get used to the rhythm of the banging and clanging, it changes pitch and tempo (? Idk the correct words) and any semi sleep-like state you’ve willed yourself into is disrupted. Plus it’s cold, the bed thing is hard and narrow and you’re not allowed to move at all - no wiggling to get comfy, no scratching your nose. You have to lie perfect flat and still in a cold, incredibly loud, uncomfortable and and sterile environment for 45 minutes.

I’ve always slept with a blanket on my head - even as toddler. Even when it’s boiling hot I need a sheet or pillow case or something over my head. I love small cosy places. I love that feeling of hiding from the world. You do not get that while having an MRI scan on your brain, I promise you.

USSMojave

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Everyone's experience is different. When I got an MRI scan I really did almost fall asleep. Yes it was loud but its rythmic tapping almost sounded like a song, and add the warm blanket on my legs I was sometimes almost nodding off (it was for a cognitive study so I had to stay awake)

SuperSoftAbby

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You literally just described how I would sleep growing up. Find a small crevasse (usually behind the couch or under a bed), wiggle myself into it and fall asleep. lol

When headphones became cheaper, they were added to the mix too. 12 people in a house gets pretty loud! Or when my dad had to do rock concerts. He’d help me find a place to hunker down in.

SomeoneElse

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I think a really key difference is that you could make yourself comfy in your little nook, and you could leave it at anytime. Plus in your case it sounds like you went there to escape the noise. This place is the noise. Even if you have a full on panic attack, you physically can’t get out of that tube without the techs pulling you out. Having the choice and ability to leave a space is really important.

Steve

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MRI is much longer and louder than CT

C4d

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Gives new meaning to the term “air head”.

I’ll see myself out, but only after I’ve read the Wikipedia article in full. Morbid curiosity and all that.

lolcatnip

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I know someone who had a leak of CSF after getting a spinal tap, and the pain was absolutely crippling if she did anything but lie flat on her back. No medicine did anything to help. I can't even imagine how painful it must be to have the CSF removed completely.

Matt_Shatt

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Well that just sounds awful. What’s not clear is how CSF gets back in there. Do they replace it or let the body figure it out on its own?

thalamus

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Not sure to be honest but i’m guessing that enough would be left and that the air would resorb and new CSF would be made in the ventricles.

Lakes

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I have to get an MRI every 6 months. This would be worse than my disease!

thalamus

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For anyone specifically interested in neuroscience: we’re trying to create a neuroscience community over at: !neuro@lemmy.world