Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Planning an MR Suite: What Can Be Done to Ensure MR Safety?

  • MRI Safety (M Bock, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Radiology Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In the past decades, various safety measures for magnetic resonance (MR) have been formulated by national and international standardization committees and professional non-standardization groups. These published standards and white papers on MR system safety include architectural installation and design guides for the MR suite, guidelines for MR safety experts, and MR marking practices for items used with MRI. Although the interests of the MR community are represented in documents pertaining to safety requirements for MR site planning, these documents show a lack of agreement among community members. For a comprehensive approach, the MR owner and MR user must consider all the current MR safety requirements regarding centralized MR suite planning, realization, performance of clinical or research services, and maintenance of the MR facility and must address the MR safety needs of all individuals as well as the MR procedural requirements of an MR suite.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

  1. •• IEC 60601-2-33:2010. Medical electrical equipment—part 2-33: particular requirements for the basic safety and essential performance of magnetic resonance equipment for medical diagnosis. Geneva: International Electrotechnical Commission IEC; 2010. This standard is the international standard for the basic safety and essential performance of magnetic resonance equipment and is therefore the standard the MR manufacturer is following, also creating the instruction for use of an MR system and its environment. From this document the essence is provided to the final establishment of the MR system and its safe use.

    Google Scholar 

  2. •• Expert Panel on MR Safety; Kanal E, Barkovich AJ, Bell C, et al. ACR guidance document on MR safe practices: 2013. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2013;37:501–30. This national guideline was many years the leading source for MR safe practices when establishing the needs of the safe MR environment into practice and also organizing in detail the MR environment. Today this document is followed by support for the American Board of MR Safety in the USA also suggesting education of MR personnel.

  3. US Department of Veterans Affairs. MRI design guide: April 2008. Washington, DC: Department of Veterans Affairs; 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  4. • MRI Working Group. Using MRI safely—practical rules for employees. Rotterdam: Radiological Society of the Netherlands; 2008. Further national guidelines and two first official norms (Austria and Germany) for the operation of the MR site and the education of MR personnel.

    Google Scholar 

  5. • Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory. Safety guidelines for magnetic resonance imaging equipment in clinical use—4th Edition—2014, Final Draft; 2014. Further national guidelines and two first official norms (Austria and Germany) for the operation of the MR site and the education of MR personnel.

  6. • The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists, RANZCR MRI safety guidelines, version: April 2007. Further national guidelines and two first official norms (Austria and Germany) for the operation of the MR site and the education of MR personnel.

  7. Swinburne University of Technology. MRI-09 health & safety risk assessment; 2011.

  8. • ÖNORM S 1125-1. Safety officer for magnetic resonance equipment for medical diagnosis—part 1: responsibilities and competences. Vienna: Austrian Standards Institute; 2009. Further national guidelines and two first official norms (Austria and Germany) for the operation of the MR site and the education of MR personnel.

    Google Scholar 

  9. • ÖNORM S 1125-2. Safety officer for magnetic resonance equipment for medical diagnosis—part 2: requirements on training. Vienna: Austrian Standards Institute; 2009. Further national guidelines and two first official norms (Austria and Germany) for the operation of the MR site and the education of MR personnel.

    Google Scholar 

  10. • DIN 6876. Operation of medical magnetic resonance systems. Berlin: German Institute for Standardization; 2014. Further national guidelines and two first official norms (Austria and Germany) for the operation of the MR site and the education of MR personnel.

  11. • ASTM F2503-13. Standard practice for marking medical devices and other items for safety in the magnetic resonance environment. West Conshohocken: ASTM International; 2013. This international standard bases on joint committee work with ASTM F2503 and organizes worldwide the marking of medical devices and other items inside the MR environment. This norm allows all parties, the manufacturer of implants and devices, manufacturers of the MR system, the MR operators and regulatory agencies to interface on a common understandable level in order to investigate MR interactions for implants, instruments and accessories and mark those which are additionally needed in daily use in the MR environment.

  12. • IEC 62570:2014. Standard practice for marking medical devices and other items for safety in the magnetic resonance environment. Geneva: International Electrotechnical Commission IEC; 2014. This international standard bases on joint committee work with ASTM F2503 and organizes worldwide the marking of medical devices and other items inside the MR environment. This norm allows all parties, the manufacturer of implants and devices, manufacturers of the MR system, the MR operators and regulatory agencies to interface on a common understandable level in order to investigate MR interactions for implants, instruments and accessories and mark those which are additionally needed in daily use in the MR environment.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Kugel H. Safety considerations in interventional MRI. In: Kahn T, Busse H, editors. Interventional magnetic resonance imaging. Berlin: Springer; 2012. p. 77–93.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  14. IMEDCO America, Ltd. Architectural site planning guide, 18th issue. 2011. www.imedco.net. Accessed Feb 2011.

  15. ETS-Lindgren. MRI shielding architectural site planning guide, Sept 2009-Rev. C. 2009. www.ets-lindgren.com.

  16. American Board of Magnetic Resonance Safety. www.abmrs.org.

  17. Examination Content Syllabus. American Board of Magnetic Resonance Safety, MRMD, MRSO, MRSE, version 1.5. 2015. www.abmrs.org. Accessed 06 Feb 2015.

  18. Matthey S, Gardner JM, Schaefers G. Clarification of MR interactions in practice for implants and devices used in MRI—rules of thumb (or when to expect less MR interaction). In: Proceedings of the 22nd annual meeting of the section for magnetic resonance technologists, Salt Lake City; 20–21 April 2013.

  19. Keene M. Detection of ferromagnetic implants using a ferromagnetic detection system: implications for patient screening prior to MRI [poster]. Presented at the ISMRM scientific workshop, Lund; 5–8 Sept 2012.

  20. Heinrich A, Güttler FV, Teichgräber U. Ferromagnetic metal detection before MRI in clinical practice. Presented at the ISMRM scientific workshop, Lund; 5–8 Sept 2012.

Download references

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Hans Engels, Harald Kugel, and Michael Bock for their thorough review and advice.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MR:comp GmbH, Buschgrundstr. 23, 45894, Gelsenkirchen, Germany

    Gregor Schaefers

  2. MRI-STaR - Magnetic Resonance Institute for Safety, Technology and Research GmbH, Buschgrundstr. 23, 45894, Gelsenkirchen, Germany

    Gregor Schaefers

  3. G-tec GmbH, Am Spaltmannsfeld 22, 46485, Wesel, Germany

    Björn Mierau

Authors
  1. Gregor Schaefers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Björn Mierau
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gregor Schaefers.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

Gregor Schaefers declares grants from Germany and EU, revenue from MR:comp MR safety seminar clients and MR:comp implant and medical device manufacturer clients, shareholder of and personal fees from MRI-STaR—Magnetic Resonance Institute for Safety, Technology and Research GmbH and MR:comp GmbH, personal fees and non-financial support from ESMRMB School of MRI, non-financial support from ISMRM and IPEM for invited talks, revenue and non-financial support from MagResource.eu/.com LLC MR implant safety online database, and MRI-Tec.com MR accessories ONE-STOP-SHOP. Convener of IEC TC62 SC62B WG45 for IEC 62570 “Marking medical devices and other items for safety in the magnetic resonance environment”, member of ASTM Subcommittee F04.15 on Material Test Methods, member of DIN Magnetic Resonance Processes for DIN 6876 “Operation of medical magnetic resonance systems”, member of IEC/ISO JWG for ISO/TS 10974 “Assessment of the safety of magnetic resonance imaging for patients with an active implantable medical device”. Björn Mierau declares no potential conflicts of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

This article is part of the Topical Collection on MRI Safety.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Schaefers, G., Mierau, B. Planning an MR Suite: What Can Be Done to Ensure MR Safety?. Curr Radiol Rep 4, 37 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40134-016-0154-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40134-016-0154-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation