Imagine you need an MRI exam, but you can’t get one because you’re too big for the machine.

FOX 4 medical reporter Meryl Lin McKean has the story of one woman who says she was told she could go to the zoo for an MRI.

Carolyn Ragan has been through a lot since a tumor was found on her spine, including surgeries and paralysis. But she says nothing was as humiliating as a trip to the hospital to get an MRI two years ago.

She was told that at 5 feet and 275 pounds, none of the MRI machines would hold her. Carolyn says an assistant began searching for one elsewhere that would.

“So he suggested the Kansas City Zoo. I thought, I know I’m big but I’m not as big as an elephant,” she said. “And my husband got mad.”

The University of Kansas Hospital says it can’t verify or deny the statement, but says its MRI department knows there is no animal MRI in our area that will accept human patients.

The problem with MRI machines is two-fold: tables often can’t support heavier patients and the tubes aren’t big enough.

At Medical Imaging in Kansas City North, both the closed and open MRI machines generally hold up to 440 pounds but even someone who weighs less, like Carolyn, may be out of luck.

“It depends on how they’re built a lot of times and what part of their body we’re scanning,” MRI tech Sarah Abbott said.

So why not build scanners that will accommodate bigger patients? There are some out there, but hospitals and imaging centers often opt for the machines that provide the clearest images and those typically aren’t the the ones that hold the heaviest patients.

“It can only be so open before the magnetic field dissipates into the room,” Abbott said.

“They should have machines that fit most everybody,” Carolyn said.

Carolyn did find an MRI machine, an open one, that would hold her but says the search was frustrating and embarrassing.

Meryl Lin McKean, FOX 4 News

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