MRI + mods

Le Rack

alright guys n gals, first off soz if selling n grammer are everywhere, using crappy lappy n on about 5 diff types of painkilers, doped up to me eyeballs!

anyway I gotta have my spine checked out, gettin an MRI? I've looked up some stuff on it and it said i should be pretty safe, but best bet is to take piercings out, which i can do for the most part but i have one surface piercing i'd rather not have to take out cuz it's pretty new n I'd never get it ack in...

apparently tatts are bigger risk cuz of iron oxide in the ink but not much i can do about that other than warn the tech's...

just wondering if anyone has any experience in this? anyone gotten an MRI with mods?? how'd it go

Will

Just swap your 'mods' for plastic/ptfe retainers and youl be grand

Le Rack

thats the plan with m tongue n my tragus can come oout for a wee whilw but nape? prob just gonna have to take it out...

but was lookin if anyones got experience on this

feylya

This exact thing was on Mythbusters! They said nothing would happen

Thephantomsmask

If you say it to them then you can probably have tape applied over it & left in. It depends on policy though l guess. I had a lumbar mri recently (having surgery for a disc prolapse soon so l feel your pain) and forgot to take out one piece of titanium jewellery, l felt no effects having it in so having tape put over a surface piercing should be a reasonable request. The tattoo overheating is a slight myth, modern inks are polymer based and have no free metallic ions in them so they can't vibrate to produce heat, older inks could. I've had several mris done in the last few years since getting inked and never had any discomfort with them so I'd say concentrate on keeping your nape and best of luck with the results.

Skelet0n

Mythbusters said iron oxide was only in the older ink and even then you only got a rash.

Will

yeah and even then you'd need a huge freakin tattoo, mythbusters flung a paint pot into an mri and it moved around thats about it. nothing to worry about

bwardrop

MRI - Magnetic Resonance Imagining. How it works is complicated - but there is a very large magnetic field involved.

Under no circumstances will you be allowed to have the scan with anything that will response to a magnetic field in your body. Steel piercings will be torn straight out of your body :eek:. Even a pacemaker is a no no as far as MRI is concerned (in most cases).

Titanium is not affected by magnets and therefore safe enough (most surgical implants are titanium).

Old tattoos might heat up and become uncomfortable, newer ones should be fine.

Just found this:

http://www.mri-planning.com/videos/MRI_safety_video.html

Thephantomsmask

bwardrop wrote: »

MRI - Magnetic Resonance Imagining. How it works is complicated - but there is a very large magnetic field involved.

Under no circumstances will you be allowed to have the scan with anything that will response to a magnetic field in your body. Steel piercings will be torn straight out of your body . Even a pacemaker is a no no as far as MRI is concerned (in most cases).

Titanium is not affected by magnets and therefore safe enough (most surgical implants are titanium).

Old tattoos might heat up and become uncomfortable, newer ones should be fine.

Just found this:

http://www.mri-planning.com/videos/MRI_safety_video.html

Eh, it's not actually *that* complicated. Magnetic fields affect the resonant frequency of electrons making up the body causing them to sit in straight alignment, this can be pulsed with radiowaves causing reversal and when reverted to normal state the electron emit their own frequency that can by picked up by RF receivers and pixelated according to pulse frequency in the same way a piezoelectric crystal generates B-mode ultrasound imaging.

316L Surgical steel (which most body jewellery, aside from ****ty claires accessories muck, and older surgical implants is made from) and higher grades is non-magnetic due to a low nickel content which is also why it's hypoallergenic, try sticking a bar magnet against it and see if it attracts! It's also why airport scanners aren't set off by it. Also that video demonstrates the effect on free metal, a piercing is not free metal it is quite secure (mythbusters did a clip on whether MRI machines will rip out an RFID implant in one of the presenters, it didn't), an MRI is not going to exhibit the same force on a non magnetic metal as someone yanking on my nipple piercings which might mske me bleed like f*ck snd very sore but it won't rip out my piercing unless it's hanging on by a thread.

Not having metallic implants during an MRI is precautionary in the same way that metallic objects are not allowed during surgery with diathermy due to the very small risk of arcing caused by potential difference in the metal. Some departments are receptive to covering piercings with plastic tape, some aren't just as MRIs are done on patients with surgical implants if absolutely essential because titanium and surgical steel have low magnetic potentials. It never hurts to ask if a compromise can be reached.

The reason for not putting a pacemaker in an MRI machine is that it's operated by a capacitor which generates it's own magnetic field, I have to instruct my pacemaker and ICD patients not to carry mobile phones in their breat pocket, not to stand for too long beside shop door scanners due to a small risk of interfering with the pacemaker discharge rate and they are exempt from airport security scanners because of this.

bwardrop

^^^ That put me back in my box !!! ^^^

I used to date a radiographer and it was hospital policy not to allow any piercings to be kept in the body during an MRI.

Thephantomsmask

Hehe, if magnets tugged on piercings then I'd have a big smile on my face when doing mag-stim (motor cortex stimulation with magnetic fields) as the patients head is just below my chest when sctivating the wand.

It is an annoying hospital policy though, just like no cigarettes and mobile phones in petrol stations when they don't cause fires, it's caused by the static charges off feckin boy racer tracksuits. I've had to get special permission from my surgeon to keep acrylic jewellery in my hood and nipples (the rest I can leave out and didn't bother to mention the pyrex in my septum) even though he won't be using diathermy as it's spinal surgery and eh, if the piercings did get in the way I'd be sueing for misconduct very quickly:eek: lol

xXxhotstuff xXx

i had an mri there three weeks ago and i was told to take any body jewellery out.. even though it was only on my head i had to take the piercing out of my bellybutton just in case it would be ripped(as my doctor so kindly worded it) out of me.. i was also told to take any coins or anything out of my pockets but was allowed leave my jeans on even though i thought the zip and button would have the same effect.. i also had underwiring in my bra and i dont think it made any difference.. havent got the results yet though so ya never know ha!! best of luck with the mri btw!!

kmart6

Saw this on House once....shot a dead guy with a bullet,put him in a MRI,bullet ripped straight through him and broke the machine! Was trying to see if the magnetic field would afftect something like a bullet!

Sorry a bit off topic but just popped into my head!

Le Rack

kmart6 wrote: »

Saw this on House once....shot a dead guy with a bullet,put him in a MRI,bullet ripped straight through him and broke the machine! Was trying to see if the magnetic field would afftect something like a bullet!

Sorry a bit off topic but just popped into my head!

lollers way to inspire fear! things seem to be positive though, and I've been told by yet another doc I won't need one just yet, tellin ye, doctors may do a lot of good but they're bloody annoyin at times! 6 diff docs, 5 diff diagnosis, all in 2 weeks.

kmart6

Lol,sorry,it just came into my head!

ChewChew

Le Rack wrote: »

lollers way to inspire fear! things seem to be positive though, and I've been told by yet another doc I won't need one just yet, tellin ye, doctors may do a lot of good but they're bloody annoyin at times! 6 diff docs, 5 diff diagnosis, all in 2 weeks.

Try workin in a hospital full of them :eek: lol

Althought tis good news if you dont need one, ay?

Cherryvega

MRI works with magnetic fields. Good quality jewellery made of surgical stainless steel is a non ferrous metal which means it doesn't have any magnetic properties. Therefore unless it was exposed to very high magnetic fields 7+ tesla's then it wont get pulled out of the skin. MRI's are no more than 4 tesla and that's only the newest machines, most are 2-3 tesla. The main reason for taking out jewellery for the MRI is the distortion that they can cause on the images.

CianRyan

Thephantomsmask wrote: »

Eh, it's not actually *that* complicated. Magnetic fields affect the resonant frequency of electrons making up the body causing them to sit in straight alignment, this can be pulsed with radiowaves causing reversal and when reverted to normal state the electron emit their own frequency that can by picked up by RF receivers and pixelated according to pulse frequency in the same way a piezoelectric crystal generates B-mode ultrasound imaging.

316L Surgical steel (which most body jewellery, aside from ****ty claires accessories muck, and older surgical implants is made from) and higher grades is non-magnetic due to a low nickel content which is also why it's hypoallergenic, try sticking a bar magnet against it and see if it attracts! It's also why airport scanners aren't set off by it. Also that video demonstrates the effect on free metal, a piercing is not free metal it is quite secure (mythbusters did a clip on whether MRI machines will rip out an RFID implant in one of the presenters, it didn't), an MRI is not going to exhibit the same force on a non magnetic metal as someone yanking on my nipple piercings which might mske me bleed like f*ck snd very sore but it won't rip out my piercing unless it's hanging on by a thread.

Not having metallic implants during an MRI is precautionary in the same way that metallic objects are not allowed during surgery with diathermy due to the very small risk of arcing caused by potential difference in the metal. Some departments are receptive to covering piercings with plastic tape, some aren't just as MRIs are done on patients with surgical implants if absolutely essential because titanium and surgical steel have low magnetic potentials. It never hurts to ask if a compromise can be reached.

The reason for not putting a pacemaker in an MRI machine is that it's operated by a capacitor which generates it's own magnetic field, I have to instruct my pacemaker and ICD patients not to carry mobile phones in their breat pocket, not to stand for too long beside shop door scanners due to a small risk of interfering with the pacemaker discharge rate and they are exempt from airport security scanners because of this.

so i take it, your a doctor, yes?

Thephantomsmask

CianRyan wrote: »

so i take it, your a doctor, yes?

Nope, finishing my degree as a neurophysiology & cardiac technician. The degree I've already done & the one I'm finishing are physics based and involve studying a lot bioelectronics and imaging modalities as well as the physiology & methods for the tests l do. Most doctors wouldn't have the first clue about the physics of an mri.

CianRyan

Ohhh impressive!
Good luck with getting where you want! (:

Thephantomsmask

Thanks!:)