MRI Questions

[INRM]

What would happen if a person had a piece of metal in their brain. Like shrapnel, and they walked into the MRI-field. They'd die on the spot right? Or would they suffer a hemmorage, and need to be carted away, or what?

Just curious; I already had an MRI done. This is just a question.

-INRM

 

[Goshawk]

Well, yeah, it's a huge magnet, and the risk is that any metal fragments in your body will shift towards the magnet during the procedure and thereby injure you. So any shrapnel in your brain is going to move around, causing bleeding as it goes, which is Not Good.

The MRI clinic will ask you if there's a chance that you might have metal fragments or shrapnel anywhere in your body, and if you answer "yes", they'll give you an x-ray first, to be sure.

Especially if you're a welder or you've ever been hit by shrapnel or a bullet, you're at risk for tiny metal fragments near your eyes, which need to be dealt with before the MRI.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tutorials/mri/rd049101.pdf

 

[INRM]

Well, yeah, it's a huge magnet, and the risk is that any metal fragments in your body will shift towards the magnet during the procedure and thereby injure you. So any shrapnel in your brain is going to move around, causing bleeding as it goes, which is Not Good.

The MRI clinic will ask you if there's a chance that you might have metal fragments or shrapnel anywhere in your body, and if you answer "yes", they'll give you an x-ray first, to be sure.

Especially if you're a welder or you've ever been hit by shrapnel or a bullet, you're at risk for tiny metal fragments near your eyes, which need to be dealt with before the MRI.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/tutorials/mri/rd049101.pdf

Yeah, right. You're dreamin' buddy. They'd just X-ray you on the spot? Not without a doctor's order. With Insurance these days, they'd be having difficulty coming to terms with paying for the MRI itself!

They would cancel the MRI until a later date. The doctor would order the X-ray, and possibly fight with the insurance-company a bit. Then they'd do the X-ray. If there's something there, they'll decide if it's big enough to pose a threat; if it's safe, they'll scan you, but give you a call-bell if anything goes wrong, if there's nothing there, they'd just go ahead and give you the scan.

-INRM

 

[Rob Lister]

Yeah, right. You're dreamin' buddy. They'd just X-ray you on the spot? Not without a doctor's order. With Insurance these days, they'd be having difficulty coming to terms with paying for the MRI itself!

They would cancel the MRI until a later date. The doctor would order the X-ray, and possibly fight with the insurance-company a bit. Then they'd do the X-ray. If there's something there, they'll decide if it's big enough to pose a threat; if it's safe, they'll scan you, but give you a call-bell if anything goes wrong, if there's nothing there, they'd just go ahead and give you the scan.

-INRM

Nice tangent. I suppose some places might do that. From what I understand second-hand is that they do not normally do an MRI before, or even on the same day, as the preliminary interview/exam of the patient. That gives them time to access their options/responsibilities. In emergancy situations they likely do a full-body exam for scars plus a head x-ray for good measure. The cost of an x-ray compared to an MRI is trivial.

For you, they probably just put you in an oil drum for twenty minutes so as to make you think they were actually checking something.

Okay...just kidding.