A gentleman has die after an oxygen cooler got absorb into the magnetic sonorousness imagery ( MRI ) political machine he was being scanned in .
The 60 - year - old patient role was at a infirmary in the metropolis of Gimhae , South Korea , travel along seizure when the chance event took place . Policetold the South China Morning Postthat he was hit in the header by a 60 - kilogram ( 132 - pound ) oxygen cylinder that fly into the MRI motorcar after it had been turn on .
MRI machines work by create sinewy magnetic fields ( as well as radio wave ) direct H nuclei ( protons ) in water . As proton are subjected to the magnetic field ( about athousand times strongerthan that produced by a electric refrigerator attraction ) their axes line up .
" This uniform alignment creates a magnetic vector oriented along the axis of rotation of the MRI image scanner , " scientific discipline editor Abi Bergerexplains in the BMJ .
" When additional energy ( in the form of a radio wafture ) is added to the magnetic area , the charismatic transmitter is block . The radio set moving ridge frequence ( RF ) that make the hydrogen nuclei to vibrate is pendent on the element seek ( hydrogen in this case ) and the posture of the magnetic field . "
" When the radiofrequency beginning is interchange off the magnetic vector returns to its resting state , and this causes a signal ( also a radio undulation ) to be utter . It is this signal which is used to create the MR images . "
While this is great for seeing inside the body – peculiarly gristle , tendons , and muscles , which other scanning methods ca n’t produce images of very well – it ’s not so great if you happen to be carry anything magnetic . For some idea of the military force involved , check out this video recording below .
This is why hospitals will prevent you from take metallic object into the MRI suite . As such , police are investigating how the oxygen tank was allowed into the room in the first post .
This is not the first incident involving an MRI machine and an oxygen armored combat vehicle . In 2018 , a valet de chambre wassucked into an MRI machinewhile carrying a similar tank , by and by die .
" Despite being a ' never event , ' MRI magnetic projectile accidents still keep on to happen pretty regularly , and radioscopy should hang our heads for that , " Tobias Gilk , senior frailty United States President of Radiology - Planningtold AuntMinnie.comfollowing the latest accident .
" The fact is that almost nowhere in the mankind are there actual denotative ruler or requisite to follow the long - established best practices that would help forestall exactly this sorting of chance event . "