Synopsis

Keywords: Physics & Engineering: RF Safety, Physics & Engineering: Gradient & B0 Safety, Transferable skills: Safety

This talk will focus on evaluating the safety of peripheral equipment used in the MR environment and discuss the potential hazards and interactions with the scanner. Practical examples will be given of how MR users and those responsible for local safety sign-off might approach testing equipment that either does not meet all the conditions of use listed in certification labelling, or how to tackle bespoke novel research equipment that has not been subjected to any formal testing to regulatory standards.

Introduction

Peripheral equipment used in the MR environment can pose a serious hazard to anyone in or around the MR scanner and it is critical that any equipment brought into the scanner room is evaluated for safety, and correctly labelled.
There are many items in regular use during MRI scans that will have been tested by manufacturers to be safe if used within certain operating conditions.
In particular, the behaviour and interaction with the main magnetic field to address the risk associated with magnetically induced displacement, the switched gradient fields, and any potential RF heating.
In addition, there are other issues to consider such as the potential to degrade image quality due to RF interference or disturbance of B0 and B1 fields.
This talk will present some real-life examples of assessing the safety of equipment that falls outside of the conditions set by the manufacturer, namely extending the use to lower and higher fields, and examples of introducing novel research equipment into the MR environment.

Acknowledgements

No acknowledgement found.

References

No reference found.