MRI induced nerve stimulation as means for communication with patient

A system for preparing a patient for examination in a medical magnetic resonance imaging environment, comprising:

• a magnetic resonance imaging unit, applied to the medical magnetic resonance imaging environment during an examination phase and comprising at least one magnetic coil controlled to provide magnetic stimulation to intentionally stimulate a nerve and/or muscle of a peripheral body part of the patient;
• a first device, applied in a preparation phase of the patient preceding the examination phase;
• wherein the magnetic resonance imaging unit and the first device are configured to provide tactile communication with the patient by intentionally stimulating a nerve and/or muscle of a peripheral body part of the patient;
• wherein the first device comprises:
• at least one stimulation unit, adapted to be a proxy of the magnetic resonance imaging unit by mimicking a later magnetic stimulation of the magnetic resonance imaging unit as a proxy electrical and/or magnetic stimulation and to operate separately from the magnetic stimulation from the medical magnetic resonance imaging unit, and to intentionally stimulate a nerve and/or a muscle of a peripheral body part of the patient by applying an electrical and/or magnetic stimulation by means different from the magnetic stimulation of the magnetic resonance imaging unit and
• at least one data processing unit, adapted to control the at least one stimulation unit to apply the electrical and/or magnetic stimulation, wherein at least one patient stimulation threshold is assigned to the proxy electrical and/or magnetic stimulation;
• and the at least one data processing unit is further adapted to correlate the at least one patient stimulation threshold associated with the proxy electrical and/or magnetic stimulation with a corresponding threshold assigned to the magnetic stimulation used in the medical magnetic resonance imaging environment, and to provide, based on the correlation, a control parameter for applying the later magnetic stimulation of the magnetic resonance imaging unit;
• wherein the at least one data processing unit is further adapted to provide, via a user interface, tactile interaction information data and/or tactile interaction instruction data associated with the proxy electrical and/or magnetic stimulation to train the patient for tactile communication during the later magnetic examination.