How dangerous are magnetic items near an MRI magnet?

[TypesEvilAspieEyes]

I got piercings . A lot !! So I have to take them off when I get an MRI done or they get pulled out of my skin!!

[gorgeousdzastr]

I am so impressed with these idiots wasting valuable resources to stoke their curiosity at the average MRI machine costing over $1 million dollars.. nice use of specialty equipment.

You're fired!

[practiCalfMRI]

@gorgeousdzastr The magnet was a decade old and no longer used for research. Weighing four tons and requiring expensive rigging to remove/ship, and with a scrap value only in the tens of thousands (there's not much of a market for old 4 T magnets), it was better for us to convert it into a "mock scanner," for practice functional MRI sessions. So the specialty equipment is still in use, just not as a scanner.

[gorgeousdzastr]

@practiCalfMRI 4 tons, iron? What is the "magnet"? Is it coiled around ferrous material?

Got a procurement number? I may be interested in salvage. Of course depending on DOT requirements etc..

[practiCalfMRI]

@gorgeousdzastr The cryostat is steel on the outside, lots of Mylar and other gubbins on the inside. The wire is a superconductor, Nb-Ti alloy. Honestly, it's a lot of money to crane/move these behemoths! But if you *really* want one then it probably won't be difficult to find, provided you have the $50K-$100K for rigging/trucking! (And if you're on a university campus, for putting the grass and flowers back all nice... another $50K :-)

[gorgeousdzastr]

@practiCalfMRI I could manage the rigging, but not 50K for flowers.

Thanks.. but no thanks. rofl I don't pay people to let me haul off their junk. :-O

cheers

[practiCalfMRI]

@gorgeousdzastr PS we donated the old electronics and patient bed was donated to the manufacturer to support the three or four existing 4 T magnets still out there.

[gorgeousdzastr]

@practiCalfMRI PS.. Your hired back.

rofl

[fhukk]

Wow. 2000 lbs of pull is insane!

I had a fear of something like that happening to my teeth when I wore braces in an MRI machine.

[jawayetti]

Could someone please do some tests with surgical staples? Apparently, all are not created equal.

[MonkeyBlox89]

wanna throw a bucky cude in there

[TheTagzen]

This must have been SOO MUCH FUN!!! er I mean scientifically interesting safety review.... thanks for the ummm, educational video....hahahahaha

[coldrunning2002]

try, before you have a scan neck a few iron pills. see if the come out of your bum.

[askjerry]

Define QUENCHED - do you do something to it so that it will not function as a magnet anymore? I thought it was just a coil... a large coil... but just a coil. How do you prevent it from working... unless you burn it up?

[practiCalfMRI]

@askjerry In a controlled quench, using the magnet's built-in circuitry, all the electrical energy (tens of megajoules) is dumped as heat across diodes, causing all the liquid helium in the cryostat to expand and blow through a carbon "burst disk" located in a special duct atop the magnet. The circuit can be activated with an emergency button, it takes about 25-30 sec for the field to decay to near zero. More...

[practiCalfMRI]

@askjerry A quench is violent; vibration can damage the superconducting wire, for example. And air ice can get into the magnet turret via cryopumping if a new burst disk isn't installed soon after the quench. In our case, though, we were done with the magnet. See my upcoming response to @gorgeousdzastr for why we went this route instead of a controlled run-down.

[SalemsMott]

I'm not joking, but when that hook slips off the shackle next to the gauge (and it will), anyone in that close radius is dead. You guys need to seek expert help in rigging equipment before someone gets killed.

[mryouswine]

I have just been for a scan this week on my brain. The guy who took me into the room told me that before Xmas a guy had gone in the tube for his scan and half way through his tattoo on his neck started to burn and he had to be treated with 1st degree burns. It was ink used from the middle east. Made me look forward to getting in NOT my neck is covers in tats !!!

[practiCalfMRI]

@mryouswine Yes, we have to screen for "dodgy" tattoos (think home-made ones that you might find in prisons) and brightly colored ones. But if you have a regular tattoo of the sort that's typically used in the US there's very little danger. The colored tattoos have conductive transition metals in them (the color elements) and can preferentially absorb the RF energy. The tech doing the screening/scan should be able to confirm which is safe and which potentially risky.

[Jackclivesim]

@HapWenXiang So you are telling me that @doingitnowoncemore isn't being silly to not trust doctors, people who have had Atleast 8 years of training, before specialising into scanning, who work with a million pound machine, built for expressly life saving medical scans, with a magnet powerful enough to wipe computers clean at 10 metres, because he's afraid they might not have checked if he has metal about his person?!

[tobiasgilk]

This has got to be my favorite MR video of the year. I get amazed all over again each time I return to watch it. Thank you for creating it and sharing it!

[TheAstinflare]

I recently had a metal plate put inside me and one thing the told me is I can't have an MRI because the plate would be just riped out of me sounds cool but I would not want that to happen to me

[yennekcmhtiek]

Having installed and repaired these magnets for 5 years, Those doing these experiments fail to realize that all those pounds of pressure are equally pulling back on the very fragile internal parts of the magnets. You can easily cause a quench costing upwards of $50,000 to recharge plus weeks of down time. Or completely trash a system. I've seen it happen.

[practiCalfMRI]

@yennekcmhtiek You're absolutely right, and we fully realized this! That's why these tests happened immediately prior to it being quenched and turned into a mock scanner. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

[doingitnowoncemore]

i dont trust these things are safe for my health 1 bit

[Kerberoz01]

@doingitnowoncemore Feel free to have a shaman stick some leeches on you next time you get sick. Whimper and hide in a cave when the gods toss thunder at you. The rest of us will act like rational, thinking beings.

[HaoWenXiang]

@Kerberoz01 The majority of life extension during the past century can be attributed to access to clean water, proper sanitation facilities, and increased access to nutrition-rich foods. Just because people are afraid of a machine that could kill them on accident if metal is present doesn't mean that they are cavemen. For a rational being you are sure overreacting.

[practiCalfMRI]

@jacobsteingart: Cameras will work surprisingly close to the magnet face. The bigger risk is that the camera will get sucked in; batteries tend to be ferromagnetic. But in this case we simply used the zoom so that we didn't have anyone between the magnet and any loaded cables. (Incidentally - and don't try this at home! - my iPhone camera works perfectly well at the back of my 3 T scanner.)

[practiCalfMRI]

@donaldjr1969: Smaller items we were able to retrieve by hand or with the come-a-long. But the chair was another matter entirely. We evacuated the room for good once that was attached. And as we were decommissioning the scanner we did indeed quench it when we'd finished. It's now a "zero T" mock fMRI scanner!

[jacobsteingart]

How did you manage to film this without the video camera being completely screwed over?

[donaldjr1969]

How did you remove the objects? Did you quench the magnet?

[mrsru3]

Going to assume this was authorised by the hospital or manufacturers as a demonstration or experiment. Otherwise, this is really dangerous

[TheDejavupanama]

And they are supposed to safe lives?

[tobiasgilk]

Would love, LOVE, to be able to use this video in MRI safety presentations. Would you be willing to share (with whatever attribution you would like)?

Please let me know. Thank you!

[tobiasgilk]

Would love, LOVE, to be able to use this video in MRI safety presentations. Would you be willing to share (with whatever attribution you would like)?

Please let me know. Thank you!

[practiCalfMRI]

@tobiasgilk Of course! That's why I posted it on YouTube.

[tobiasgilk]

@practiCalfMRI Would you happen to have it in QT or AVI? Also, how would you like to be credited?

Thank you in advance!

[deepcut66]

LOL you are all very naughty boys !

[barberian6]

This is why you're diagnosed with a head tumor erroneously. Clowns break the machine.

[Elrotus]

Yeah, 19goalkeeper.. we once had a fire closeby MRI room, and some firefighter went to the room with his oxygentanks on his back, poor fellow :X

[crocodile2006]

Where can I pick up a MRI machine?

[snelpiller]

how did u get an old MRI machine? :P

[Love2Destroy]

this is perhaps the best use for an MRI

[nehemiasvids]

idiots.

[randomvideowatcher]

That would make a good bulk tape eraser.

[19goalkeeper]

thats why people with pacemakers dont get MRI's, cops aren't allowed taking their handcuffs, guns, and anything else metallic in the imaging room, and even the fire extinguisher is made of a nonferris metal

[Eysc]

the same power of magneto's ass

[gecko77z]

this is why stupid people shouldnt use medical instruments

[dogwisperer210]

bored much? people have too much fun at work. xDD

[ohnobeezey]

It's like it's alive!!!!!!!

[yoshinibble123]

Using scientific equipment with imperial measurements like pounds. What!?

[SirPrimeArtist]

My Chair! Nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom 

[JumleBumle]

Fucking magnets. How do they work?

[BeerWolf84]

Wolverine's worst nightmare...

[adreline123]

Science!!

[eng3d]

glad that the camera is not altered.

[Sgrunterundt]

As Iron Maiden sings: "Can I play with magnets?" :p

[beliebigerusername]

apes playing with magnets. wow.

[filipecastano]

Is that what you do with your spare time at the office? haha

[DivideByRy]

Freaking interns...

[maikoo25]

magneto can do that with one hand and his eyes closed

[jul9cuz]

Who let the stoners in the office?

[joshp2304]

should you guys really be playing with one of those?

[Chaytup]

@joshp2304 It's SCIENCE

[trinadog13]

Haha! Even a 1.5 T is no joke!

[dragonmoony]

HERP DERP THIS MAGNET IS STRONG DERP

[Pkinchy]

@dragonmoony yes, but how does it work?

[rotjesenmatjes]

I went in one of these.. a guy that worked at the MRI & CT center told me that a guy once had a fire extinguisher flying thru him, he died instantly.. O.o

[HungryGuyStories]

Wow! That's a powerful electromagnetic tunnel those guys built! I wonder what their electric bill will be after running it?

[AKAtheA]

@HungryGuyStories superconducting...doesn't need any power once engaged...

[HungryGuyStories]

@AKAtheA - Really? It's cool watching that wrench float inside it like that. How do you build one of those things? Is this some kind of scientific laboratory? Or did you build this superconducting magnetic tunnel thing in your basement?

[AKAtheA]

@HungryGuyStories building a 4T magnet in one's basement - very unlikely... the material itself is expensive as hell, as a bonus is the liquid helium needed to keep it superconductive is also VERY expensive...

And it gets even better - if you fail to keep the temperature low enough while the magnet is energized, depending on it's construction you loose most of the LqHe or completely destroy the magnet... same applies when it needs to be quickly shut down...

[HungryGuyStories]

@AKAtheA - Really? Then this must be in some kind of weird science lab, right? Where else would someone build such a device as this?

[AKAtheA]

@HungryGuyStories label on it says Varian,which seems to be a subsidiary of Agilent Technologies, which is a pretty big company...

[nightwraith3571]

@onelazyrussian Different person than the other guy, but CT scanners use X-rays, not magnetic fields. This is in fact an MRI machine, which uses nuclear magnetic resonance to produce an image.

And if you'll look at the description, it does in fact have "mri" as a tag.

[Sneak693]

@ensh4dowed are you sure you are 21 and not 12?

[HungryGuyStories]

@onelazyrussian - Yeah, or an MRI.

[tobiasgilk]

Brilliant! Thank you for the measurements. It's hard to convince people that a wrench that weighs only a pound can exert hundreds of pounds of attractive force. And the 1 ton of force that a chair can exert... amazed, but not surprised!

[saikouxs100]

2000lbs!Holy shit,have fun getting that chair off of there!

[Rilexsudah24]

second

[tyreez10]

first..........