A MAJOR milestone was achieved at Western District Health Service (WDHS) last week when the much anticipated MRI magnet was switched on at Hamilton Base Hospital.

The installation team are now performing a series of tests to ensure the machine is functioning properly and calibrated correctly before it goes live in early March.

The main component of the magnet is a large coil of wire made from superconducting materials that are cooled to very low temperatures (-269°C or -452°F) using liquid helium.

The magnet creates a strong, stable magnetic field in order to perform magnetic resonance imaging.

The magnetic field is used to align the protons in the atoms of the patient’s body, which are then excited by radiofrequency waves.

When the protons return to their original alignment, they emit a signal that can be detected by the MRI machine’s sensors and used to create an image of the patient’s internal structures.