Cinemavision goggles make MRI's more enjoyable for kids

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Ask anyone what it's like to undergo an MRI and people will tell you it can be tough staying still while you're in a tightly confined space in a loud machine.

If you move, you'll have to start all over again and for kids, that task can be nearly impossible without sedation.

Now, new technology is providing a safe distraction.

Koral Del Mar Rivera is learning about MRI.

The imaging test can sound scary, but once kids are prepared, it doesn't have to be.

The "MR-I Am Ready" program teaches kids and their parents what to expect.

"When she got here, she was nervous. I was super nervous, too," Yvonne Fernandez, Koral's mother, said.

Now, the dreaded experience can be fun, thanks to new MRI movie goggles.

"I think it's making a huge difference. There's a lot of noise and banging," explained Suzanne Scott, multi-modality technologist of pediatric imaging for Wolfson Children's Hospital.

Scott said the Cinemavision goggles help immerse kids in a movie and stay still without sedation.

"Around four to five years old, we're seeing that some children can get through their MRI for that at that age, which is huge, because pretty much they were looking at sedating anyone under 10," Scott said.

"I heard noises and I heard the movie," Koral Del Mar said.

The goggles helped Koral Del Mar's mom, too.

"I started crying when I saw her in the donut hole, but when I saw her relax, I said, 'OK. I'm good now,'" said Fernandez.

An MRI can sometimes last up to three hours. The MRI Cinemavision goggles are now being made available to adults who suffer from claustrophobia in some centers around the U.S.