MRI Safety Tip - Leave your firearm outside

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MRI Safety Tip - Leave your firearm outside

Post by SRVA »

This is an interesting read. Please make sure you do not bring your concealed firearm into the MRI room (although I can't figure out where to stow it under one of those gowns).

http://www.ajronline.org/cgi/content/full/178/5/1092
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Post by kauboy »

Well, I learned more about the workings of a 1991A1 from that medical journal entry than from any other source I've read. :lol:

You know, it just goes to show that no safety mechanism can protect us from lack of common sense. At least everyone was alright.
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Post by stevie_d_64 »

I heard a story a while back, about one of our guys in the fire department doing a walk through of that part of the hospital where they do the MRI's in our district...

He had just barely stuck his head in the room where they have the big machine, and as the story goes, his department badge came right off the shirt he was wearing, flew across the room with a big "clunk" at the end of that flight...

We all got a chuckle out of that, but it does make you think about how powerful those things could possibly be...

ehhhh, who knows... ;-)
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Post by KBCraig »

Bizarre sequence of events. It's pretty amazing that it fired with all the safeties engaged.

That said, MRIs are scary strong. Part of the pre-MRI history involves asking whether the patient has ever done any welding, grinding, or metal work. If yes, then there has to be a head x-ray to check for any metallic particles in the eyes, because the magnetic field will pull those tiny particles, cutting the eyes.
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Post by RPBrown »

We do some work on the refrigeration systems that cool the MRI machines. We are only allowed to take in 1 tool at a time. Makes for a long service call.
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Post by kauboy »

Why can't they just shut down the magnet while your doing service work like they did in this instance to get the gun "unstuck"?
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Post by RPBrown »

Cost too much to bring it back on line? Don't know for sure.
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Post by nitrogen »

Wow, A levelheaded report about a real, true, AD in a medical environment. I saw no "WOW GUNS ARE EVIL" in there. I'm impressed :lol:
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Post by Venus Pax »

Since no one was hurt, it's kind of funny.
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Post by KBCraig »

kauboy wrote:Why can't they just shut down the magnet while your doing service work like they did in this instance to get the gun "unstuck"?
Because it's expensive and risks ruining the machine. At least that's what I've been told by the MRI techs.
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Post by HighVelocity »

If you've never been in an MRI machine, let me tell you, that magnet is STRONG.
That magnet is the reason that screws and pins used to fix broken bones are made from titanium. If you had a steel screw in your body it could be ripped right out.
No jewelry allowed in the unit, period. Especially body jewelry which is a lot more popular with teenagers than it used to be. Stainless rings stuck in soft tissue don't stand a chance of staying put.
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Post by Skiprr »

Truly fascinating, but the part I think I like best is:
An unsuccessful attempt to remove the gun from the magnet resulted in the gun being pulled to the right side of the magnet...
That gave a quick flash to Larry or Curly grabbing the pistol, bracing a foot against the MRI barrel, and tugging mightily...only to have the pistol slam right over to the other side of the magnet. Of course, then Moe slaps him upside the head.
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Post by TX Rancher »

Very interesting article, and yes it was a calm and well thought out analysis by the author. I’m also impressed the American Journal of Roentgenology published it without adding some comments about guns.

However, I’m not completely bought into the explanation. First, let me state I know absolutely nothing about an MRI machine, and I’m sure not an expert on 1911 drop safeties. But I find it hard to believe the magnetic field force would be pulling the components of the weapon in different directions.

For reference, assume “up� is a line from the mag well entrance through the chamber and “forward� is a line from the chamber through the barrel (direction of bullet travel). From the article, it sounds like the weapon hit the front of the slide, which would imply a certain relationship to the magnetic lines of force “pulling� forward on the weapon. But to trip the drop safety, the lines of force would have to pull “up� and that would imply a 90 degree shift in the field.

Also, if the weapon discharged while pointed more or less directly at the barrel of the MRI machine, is it plausible “…only minimal cosmetic damage occurred to the magnet itself.�?

Now I’ll be one of the first to admit magnetic fields traveling through a metal structure as geometrically complex as a pistol could do some strange things, but this analysis doesn’t sound rock solid to me yet.

One other thing to keep in mind is metal objects traveling through magnetic fields tend to generate currents and voltage potentials (Faraday’s law). It seems to me this could also be an explanation of the discharge (basically, a spark or current generated heat igniting the primer or powder).

I'm sure there are a lot of other options. I would find this easier to accept if there had been some sort of experiment to verify the author’s theory.
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Post by G.C.Montgomery »

I used to shoot with a guy who managed an MRI maintenance division for Marconi or GE, I forget which it company. Anyway, he had some very interesting stories of accidents around ramped up MRI magnets.

Most of the stories involved tools being pulled across the room housing the magnet. One story was a frightening account of a cooling jacket being cracked by maintenance workers. Apparently, the liquid helium coolant immmediately boiled and returned to it's natural gas state. The helium displaced all oxygen in the room, asphyxiating all but one worker.

There was one accident that made national headlines a few years back. A small gas cylinder of some sort was being transported near an MRI sweet when it was pulled into the magnet. Unfortunately, there was already a patient on the table. The patient was apparently struck in the head and died a few days afterward.

So the general rule is....Don't take anything containing ferrous metals anywhere near an MRI. I still have to wonder about that 1991A1 discharging on it's own after being pulled into the MRI. If everything was working as it should and the thumb-safety engaged, that shouldn't be possible. So I'm left wondering if the firing-pin block had been removed as is a common practice among some 1911 shooters.

On further review, I suppose it's remotely possible the primer itself was sensitive enough that a hard impact with the magnet detonated it. It would be cool to know what brand of ammunition was in the gun at the time. I just can't imagine an impact hard enough to do that with any primer. It just seems any impact that hard would have permenantly damaged the gun and possibly the magnet.
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Post by KBCraig »

G.C.Montgomery wrote:So I'm left wondering if the firing-pin block had been removed as is a common practice among some 1911 shooters.
The article includes photos of the disassembled pistol, and the FP block is there. It was also a box-stock 1991A1; all the 1911 shooters I know who like to hotrod things would start with the trigger, grip safety, and thumb safety, so I doubt anyone would leave all those stock and remove the FP block.

I also have questions about the FP block being pulled in a different direction, but the MRI magnetic field is a donut: it's coming from all directions. I also wonder if the g-forces could have been sufficient to overcome the FP block spring, lifting it out of the way and allowing the FP to strike the primer.
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