
Is it Safe to Get an MRI? - titojankowski
http://www.titojankowski.com/is-it-safe-to-get-an-mri
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code_diego_code
I'm a former NMR spectroscopist (a chemist who works with the same technology
as MRI devices--though at even higher magnetic field strengths to in order to
study the shapes of various molecules). I've quite spent a lot of time working
around high-field superconducting NMRs without incident.

To clarify the the "nuclear" part, magnetic resonance technology does not in
any way involve nuclear reactions or the ensuing radiation from such, so you
can rest easy on that one.

Additionally, MRI also doesn't utilize any ionizing radiation in the scanning
process. This is one of the major advantages of imaging via MRI technology as
opposed to using x-rays in traditional radiography or newer CT technologies.

What happens in NMR is that certain atomic nuclei like to align themselves
with the magnetic field that they happen to find themselves in, much in the
same way that you might see iron filings on a piece of paper aligning
themselves with the magnetic field lines created by a toy magnet. This is
where we get the M, or magnetic, part of MRI.

When these aligned nuclei are then exposed to radio waves, they will absorb
and slightly later, re-emit the signal at specific resonance frequencies. This
is where the R in MRI comes from. Now the trick is that the exact frequency
where this happens depends on how the electrons surrounding that nucleus are
arranged (which is mainly a function of what other atoms might be bonded to
the one yu're looking at).

The timing and frequency at which this radio re-emission occurs allows
chemists and radiologists to determine various bits of information about the
different environments that these particular atoms have found themselves in,
making it a very useful tool for determining chemical properties or non-
invasively taking pictures of the interior of people's bodies.

Around very high-field magnets (particularly the superconducting types used in
research NMR spectrometers and high-resolution closed tube MRI scanners),
however, you do need to be careful about the magnets--and what ferromagnetic
objects you may be bringing near or into them and how the field may affect
them.

I trust most MRI techs and spectroscopists understand the proper safety
procedures around their machines well enough to not allow themselves or their
patients to create hazardous situations involving the magnets. These are some
delicate and very expensive machines. That being said, failures can be quite
spectacular--imagine Magneto and Iceman having a battle royale in your lab.

I think this is quite enough for one post, I'll leave the medical risks
involving contrast dyes and incidentalomas to those more knowledgeable than
myself.

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titojankowski
Cool, thanks for sharing your experience! OK if I repost this comment on my
blog? (Or maybe you want to repost it yourself?)

Thanks! Looking forwards to writing more about this.

Tito

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PaulHoule
I think the real risk is that your radiologist might get a false positive
condition that leads to you getting a dangerous procedure you don't need.

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titojankowski
Getting an MRI without a medical reason has an extra risk. If you and your
radiologist/doctor aren't focused on a "problem area", you might just find one
anyway. Here's story in the New York Times about a person who went in for a CT
Scan for stomach pains, but ended up "discovering" a harmless lump in her
adrenal mass. Of course, it cost more than a thousand dollars of further
testing to declare it "benign". Surely I have some artery that “looks
constricted” or an “abscess” to fret about. I'd say this is the biggest risk
for me getting an MRI "just for the data".

Because of this, I'm considering skipping the analysis after the scan. Just
save the file to Google Drive and get another scan to compare to in 5 or 10
years.

[http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/17/the-fallout-of-a-
ch...](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/17/the-fallout-of-a-chance-
medical-finding/)

Updated the post to include this section

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ozh
there's an M in MRI (for "Magnetic") just because "Nuclear" didn't have the
same harmless ring to it.

This is not something to do for fun.

~~~
titojankowski
Any particular risks you're alluding to?

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dialmaster
Well, then at least you'll have it.

