Does Exposure to Static Magnetic Fields Generated by Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scanners Raise Safety Problems for Personnel?
Journal Title: Journal of Biomedical Physics and Engineering - Year 2018, Vol 8, Issue 3
Abstract
MRI workers are occupationally exposed to static and time-varying gradient magnetic fields. While the 24-hour time-averaged exposure to static magnetic fields is about a few mT, the maximum static field strength can be as high as 500 mT during patient setup. Over the past several years, our laboratory has performed extensive experiments on the health effects of exposure of animal models and humans to different sources of electromagnetic fields such as cellular phones, mobile base stations, mobile phone jammers, laptop computers, radars, dentistry cavitrons and MRI. This study is to investigate the adverse health effects in MRI workers and also to assess the effect of exposure of MRI workers to static magnetic fields on their cognitive functions. In the first phase of this study a questionnaire was designed to collect information from 120 MRI personnel. The collection of data about the adverse health effects was based on self-reporting by the participants. In the second phase, 47 volunteer university students were asked to continuously move around a 1.5 T MRI scanner. Visual reaction time and working memory tests were performed on all participants before and after the experiment. Forward digit span and backward digit span were used for assessing the working memory. Furthermore, participants were asked to report the symptoms they had experienced during the movement. The first phase of our study showed increased frequencies of adverse health effects in MRI workers. In this study the rates of selfreported symptoms such as a headache, sleep problems, myalgia, palpitation, fatigue, concentration problems, attention problems, nervousness and backpain were possibly affected by static magnetic field. Furthermore we found that reaction time and working memory could be influenced by the movements of the body around a MRI scanner. It can be concluded that movement through a high magnetic field can also lead to some adverse cognitive effects in MRI staff.
Authors and Affiliations
A. Ghadimi-Moghadam, S. M. J. Mortazavi, M. Haghani, S. Taeb, M. A. Hosseini, N. Rastegariyan, F. Arian, L. Sanipour, S. A. R. Mortazavi, M. R. Dizavandi
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP455549
- DOI -
- Views 86
- Downloads 0
A Novel Virtual Reality Technique (Cervigame®) Compared to Conventional Proprioceptive Training to Treat Neck Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Background: Despite the potential benefits of virtual reality technology in physical rehabilitation, only a few studies have evaluated the efficacy of this type of treatment in patients with neck pain. Objective: The aim...
A Novel Classification Method using Effective Neural Network and Quantitative Magnetization Transfer Imaging of Brain White Matter in Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis
Background: Quantitative Magnetization Transfer Imaging (QMTI) is often used to quantify the myelin content in multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions and normal appearing brain tissues. Also, automated classifiers such as artif...
Automatic Prostate Cancer Segmentation Using Kinetic Analysis in Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI
Background: Dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCEMRI) provides functional information on the microcirculation in tissues by analyzing the enhancement kinetics which can be used as biomarkers for prost...
Benchmarking of Siemens Linac in Electron Modes: 8-14 MeV Electron Beams
Background: Radiation therapy using electron beams is a promising method due to its physical dose distribution. Monte Carlo (MC) code is the best and most accurate technique for forespeaking the distribution of dose in r...
Gold-Curcumin Nanostructure in Photothermal Therapy on Breast Cancer Cell Line: 650 and 808 nm Diode Lasers as Light Sources
Background: Au nanoparticles (AuNPs) exhibit very unique physiochemical and optical properties, which now are extensively studied in a range of medical diagnostic and therapeutic applications. AuNPs can be used for cance...