Safety at MIDB

Participants must change into scrubs in order to be scanned.

Warning

Warn of unlikely but possible heating of tattoos or underwire. Check carefully for artifacts in your data before continuing. Artifacts are occasionally caused by underwire, bra clasps, hair ties, nail polish, etc.

Tattoos need to be 30+ days old for approval. The magnetic field can cause blurring of new ink.

Makeup, especially eye makeup and mascara, should be removed before scanning. Makeup removal wipes and nail polish remover are stored in 2-195D.

Once the participant is in the bore, always have them confirm the communication method and squeeze ball are working prior to beginning the scan. Do this every time the table is moved in case the tubes become pinched or dislodged.

Safety incidents should be reported within 24hr to the MIDB Neuroimaging Director (Steve Nelson, smnelson@umn.edu) and the CMRR Safety Officer (Jeramy Kulesa, ande2445@umn.edu): Any problem or event which, in the opinion of the facility or researcher, was unanticipated, reflects new or increased risk to the subjects and was possibly related to research procedures. Serious error or mishap that had the potential to cause an unanticipated problem but failed to do so because of chance or because it was intercepted. Any unplanned or unanticipated event which caused or could have caused personal injury, environmental damage or property loss.

Hearing Protection

Switching currents in the gradient coils for imaging purposes leads to noise development during the MR examination which can exceed 99 dB in the bore.

Danger

It is mandatory for the patient/volunteer and all others who will be present in the magnet room during the scan session to wear hearing protection in the form of earplugs, headphones, or a combination of earplugs and headphones that are provided by the facility. Alternate forms of hearing protection must be approved by the CMRR Safety Committee.

Acceptable forms of hearing protection at 3T are as follows:

  • Earplugs can be used alone.
  • Avotec blue headphones can be used alone.
  • Avotec tubes must be used with earplugs.
  • Siemens headphones must be used in conjunction with another form of hearing protection.
  • Optoacoustics can be used alone only if the system is properly calibrated for noise-cancelling.