THORACIC SPINE ARACHNOID WEB SURGERY FAILED by Ali Baaj at Banner Hospital Phoenix, Arizona

The MRI pictures above is what Banner University hospital radiology in Tucson said was equally as good as Ge's Fiesta-c. Ordered was a Fiesta-c  (but Banner University Hospital  used 3D FIESTA  even though they said they were using Fiesta-c) that I arranged by myself as Dr. Ali A. Baaj would not put the effort into finding a radiology department to perform the Fiesta MRI.  

After verifying multiple times before the scan and as I went into the Banner University Tucson MRI  tunnel and with the MRI technician on the day that I was getting a Fiesta-c MRI (2023).  The MRI technician under direction of a radiologist, most likely, performed a Cube MRI scan unknown to me. I asked for a disc of the scan at the end of the MRI scan and the reply was that I needed to go to the main Banner Hospital on Campbell avenue in Tucson, AZ.

Well I went over to the main Tucson Banner Hospital on Campbell avenue and asked for my MRI scan disc. I was given the disc after being told it would take days to get and I  objected.

I went home and put the disc in my computer and low and behold it was not a Fiesta-c MRI scan nut a "Cube software" MRI!

I called the main MRI office at the University of Arizona (Banner) and asked for a call back.

An hour latter McMillian a  female director of radiology called me back . After telling her the story of not getting a Fiesta-c MRI she tried to tell me there was no difference between the  cube and Fiesta-c MRI's. I told her there was and she should know better as Fiesta is better of removing CSF artifacts so you can better see what is in the CSF . Well after another hour she arranged a new MRI at a facility that had the 3D fiesta instead of Fiesta-c capabilities later that same day.

The radiology tech that was on, tried to do a shortened version in sagittal only and I said you can take me out of the tube if you are not going to perform it the right way by  giving me axial image also. He said he would call the radiologist. While I was in the tube he said, over the mic, they would do the axial also.

There is no doubt that the noise the Fiesta MRI makes is twice a regular MRI. But the results worth it to know what is actually going on in the spinal fluid.

After the Fiesta scan the tech asked me how I knew that a Fiesta MRI was better? See link below by:

Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California, 505 Parnassus Avenue, M-391, San Francisco, CA 94143-0628, USA 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6603258/

 I told him I read a medical article above. He said in the 15 years he was at the University Banner, Tucson Hospital he did not even know they had that capability on spine imaging that reduces CFS artifacts.

Below see the image of the 3D fiesta MRI of my spine and tell me if there is not a difference from the images above of cube and regular MRI? It is obvious it is better! Also FIESTA-C is even suppose to be better! The Fiesta-c was suppose to be done. Instead the radiology slipped the  3D Fiesta MRI instead (again not telling me they did not have the Fiesta-c  software.)

https://mriquestions.com/fiesta-v-fiesta-c.html

FIESTA vs FIESTA-C

What is the difference between FIESTA and FIESTA-C?  

FIESTA (Fast Imaging Employing Steady-state Acquisition) is the GE name for a balanced steady-state gradient echo sequence that Siemens calls TrueFISP and Philips calls balanced-FFE. As described in a prior Q&A, these sequences may be affected by phase shift errors across the image that produce banding artifacts. Such artifacts are particularly prominent at the skull base and other locations where there are susceptibility distortions of the main magnetic field. They are also more problematic in 3D acquisitions where TR values may exceed 10-15 msec.

FIESTA-C is a modification of the basic FIESTA/TrueFISP sequence. The equivalent Siemens product is called CISS (Constructive Interference Steady State). FIESTA-C/CISS is composed of a pair of TrueFISP acquisitions run back-to-back preceded by an automatic shimming procedure. The first uses phase alternation of the RF-pulses (+α, −α, +α, −α, ...) while the second does not (+α, +α, +α, etc). When the paired data sets are combined in maximum intensity projection, the phase errors cancel, resulting in an image largely free of dispersion banding. This combination of paired signals is performed automatically after data collection (which increases reconstruction time slightly).

FIESTA-C/CISS is currently the sequence of choice for CSF-cisternography for visualizing cranial nerves at the skull base. When used in the 3D mode, it provides high signal from CSF based on T2/T1 contrast and high spatial resolution.  Furthermore, like FIESTA/TrueFISP, it has inherent flow compensation because of its perfectly balanced gradients. 

Figure 2

GE 3D Fiesta MRI cutting thru the dome of the actual web. Look at the top of the web and the clarity of the dome of the arachnoid  web and compare with the cube MRI above that you cannot see the dome and therefore have no idea what is going on in the CSF.  Dr. Ali A. Baaj  Chief Neurosurgeon at Banner University Medical in Phoenix, Az tried to tell me the image in the cube version MRI showed that the spinal cord had been pinched for so long that it did not relax! 

The Ge 3D fiesta MRI showed the dome which represents the top of a web or a cyst is not a kinked spinal cord from years of compression! I  wonder why Ali A. Baaj never orders a  Ge 3D Fiesta OR FIESTA-C MRI for his patients (his exact words) as it would show the actual issue and not be guess work at the time of surgery?