UK MRI consultation ends Jan 31
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
January 31 marks the end of the UK Health Protection Agency's three-month consultation on the protection of patients and volunteers undergoing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations. The document will form the basis of guidelines updating those issued by the National Radiological Protection Board in 1991. The document is due to be published in March 2008. At the end of 2006, some 500 fixed MRI units were operational at 360 sites across the UK. Unlike CT X-ray (covered by the just-published 12th COMARE report), MRI does not use ionising radiation but needs to be controlled because it produces large static magnetic fields, low frequency (switched gradient) magnetic fields, radio frequency fields and acoustic noise, all of which are potentially harmful, says the HPA.