SAN ANTONIO -- The FDA reports since 2004, there has been a 227% increase in MRI accidents. Now, University Hospital in San Antonio has installed a new system to cut down on the risks.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses powerful magnets to image the inside of the body. Patients and staff have to strip themselves free of anything metal to keep objects or body parts from being sucked into the tube, creating an injury.
“If you have any jewelry or any piercings or anything on your body, that’s what they want you to take off,” said patient Gabriel Diaz who was having an MRI on his head.
If something metal were left on a person, “there’s a lot of tugging that would occur,” explained University Hospital’s director of radiology Rick Pena. “And it actually could come loose and becomes a projectile much like a bullet.”
University is the first hospital in Texas to install sophisticated new detectors with lights and sounds to indicate when a patient or staff member or visitor is approaching a restricted area with anything metal.
The sensor beams that fan out from wall mounts identify materials that can be drawn toward an MRI magnet with life-threatening force. They provide an unmistakable alert before an accident happens.
“Our patients come here to do a test,” Pena stated. “The last thing we want to do is injure them more. Our number one goal is patient safety. After all, they trust us with their lives. We owe them that.”
University Hospital performs about 800 MRI scans on patients each month. Moving lots of patients through the busy facility means the staff is trying to keep on top of safety all the time. This just gives them one more important tool.
