The Buzzi Foundation is pleased to announce that work has begun on installing the new Pediatric 3 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner donated by Enel Cuore, the non-profit organization founded by Enel. This latest generation machine does not expose young patients to radiation of any kind while allowing large areas of the body to be scanned very accurately and rapidly, thereby reducing sedation times. When it is up and running, it will also allow the hospital to double the number of scans carried out each year.
The new Pediatric 3 Tesla MRI scanner will be dedicated to the memory of Maria Cristina Milano, one of our Enel co-workers who was a passionate volunteer at the Buzzi Foundation before she passed away in March 2020.
Installation work is expected to be completed and the new machine to be up and running in June 2021.
“Enel Cuore has always focused on improving the care and well-being of sick children through concrete actions that also support their families and the hospital communities treating them. Thanks to our contribution, the Buzzi Foundation will have a safe, innovative new diagnostic tool. This donation is even more important and meaningful to us because of the Buzzi Foundation’s decision to dedicate it to the memory of Maria Cristina Milano, a longtime Enel colleague who shared our values not just through her professional work but also by volunteering with the Buzzi Foundation,” said Michele Crisostomo, President of Enel and Enel Cuore.
“Installing the new generation 3 Tesla MRI machine at the Buzzi Children’s Hospital in Milan is a fundamental step towards the creation of an x-ray-free pediatric hospital – in other words, a progressive and drastic reduction in the use of ionizing radiation (x-rays) in favor of non-irradiating technologies such as MRI. This machine is not just a new generation device; most importantly it represents a new concept in dynamic technological platforms, designed to accommodate the implementation of emerging MRI techniques (both hardware and software) expected to come onto the market in the short to medium term. Scans will thus become increasingly faster, more tolerable and more accurate, particularly for children suffering from neurological illnesses and cancer. Over the next 10-15 years, the Buzzi Children’s Hospital will be able to implement innovations in continuous development on that platform,” explained Dr Andrea Righini, Head of Pediatric Radiology and Neuroradiology at Buzzi.
The President of the Buzzi Foundation, Stefano Simontacchi, affirmed: “The installation of the 3 Tesla MRI equipment is an important step forward in the Foundation’s work to expand the Buzzi Hospital and transform it into a leading-edge hospital with child-friendly diagnostics. In recent years, the Buzzi Foundation has worked to give Milan the “Nuovo e Grande Buzzi”: a 10,000 sqm emergency and urgent care unit spread over seven floors which will be connected to the present hospital – a pediatric hub of international excellence in which skills, specializations and care will converge to treat the most complex and serious cases. Many projects have already been completed or are in the process of being implemented. We are grateful to Enel Cuore for making this important new step towards completing the project possible and we also remember with affection and gratitude Maria Cristina Milano for her commitment to the Foundation”.
"We are very grateful to the Buzzi Foundation for the constant support it has always offered our hospital with a particular focus on the humanization and technological improvement of all the departments in the “Nuovo e Grande Buzzi"; this has helped turn us into a leading-edge hospital with the very newest technologies and child-friendly specialist care,” declared Alessandro Visconti, General Manager Area Health Service Fatebenefratelli Sacco. “Special thanks to Enel Cuore for donating the new pediatric 3 Tesla MRI machine, which means we can continue to provide excellent service and accurate diagnoses, without subjecting our young patients to radiation, while also reducing sedation times”.