Sea turtle becomes first non-human to use Florida hospital's 3D MRI

Jan. 30 (UPI) -- A Florida hospital announced an injured sea turtle has become the first non-human to undergo a "state-of-the-art 3D MRI" test.

Health First in Melbourne said in a Facebook post that Homeslice, a juvenile sea turtle recovering at the Brevard Zoo after being found with severe propeller injuries last summer, was brought in for testing to determine whether her spine had recovered enough for release back into the wild.

"Animal MRI machines are not big enough for sea turtles," the post said.

The hospital said Homeslice is the first animal patient to use the new MRI machine.

"Health First was able to help with state-of-the-art 3D MRI technology, previously only used by humans," the Facebook post said.