Magnet Suite - Full Service

Working with the Architect, MRI equipment supplier, Building Contractor or Remodeling Team, to fully plan in advance and implement, the crucial build out of the MRI Suite, Magnet Room, Technologist Control Room, and Equipment Room. - Module #13

In the successful design and build of an MRI Imaging center, many functional issues must be considered in early planning and throughout the build out process. While there is some amount of commonality in function with all MRI magnets, the specific needs of your MRI magnet must be known, and you will need to know what is provided by the MRI supplier, and what must be supplied by you as the client, through your builder group.

When you plan and build an MRI Imaging Center, and it is commonplace, there can be some unexpected misunderstandings between you the client, and the Architect, Magnet Supplier, and the builders, which much of the time, can be entirely avoided, by employing our Consulting services.

You will want to think about your magnet requirements prior to making a final MRI site selection.

You will have wanted to have completed your Seismic and Vibration Testing, and have received good news on the suitability of your MRI Magnet room site to enable your MRI Magnet, to produce the best quality, high resolution, artifact free, and vibration free, patient images. In the rare instance in which the MRI Magnet room in your MRI Imaging Center, does not pass vibration or Seismic Testing, if possible, you will want to look at your preliminary site plans, work with your Architect and Builder, and see if you can flip your layout to move your MRI Magnet room to another area in your available lease space that is further from the source(s) of the offending vibration. That may not fully resolve the issue. I am a proponent, where possible, of not finalizing a proposed MRI Imaging Center building lease, until and if your proposed MRI site passes vibration and Seismic testing, which as mentioned previously, are tests that we can arrange to have performed on your behalf.

Concrete slab on grade siting for your MRI Magnet is best and least problematic. Siting a 12,000 pound 1.5 Tesla MRI, or larger , heavier, 3.0 Tesla MRI unit on a second floor or higher, presents many very significant challenges that you will want to carefully consider. Weight/load bearing, additional expenses , and safety will all come into play in a very big way.

In your MRI Imaging Center, if you think you will want to have a contrast scan patient injector that your technologist can manage from the MRI control room, you will have need have planned in advance as it relates to the penetration of the RF shield for the MRI Magnet Room. You will want to make sure your builder truly understands the design placement and build out of the MRI Magnet Room and the many aspects in the build out and penetrations to the RF shield.

When retained in working with a client MRI Imaging Center, we work very closely in the design review and planning process, to make sure the MRI supplier has generated an MRI Magnet room final study that ensures the full containment within the Magnet room itself, of the MRI  5 Gauss field line. In an MRI Imaging Center, “Slab on Grade” site placement, with a second floor above the Magnet on the ground floor, the 5 Gauss field line (5G) cannot extend beyond the Magnet Room walls, and bulge into the floor above. Your 5G line can extend below the floor if you are slab on grade and only have dirt underneath your MRI site slab. The review of your MRI supplier site study plans for your MRI placement should be carefully reviewed before signing off by the client owner. Your MRI Imaging Center Builder will also need to understand the additional Gauss field line limitations for electrical equipment, such as main power transformers remaining outside of the 3 Gauss field line. Often a builder will indicate they understand what is necessary in the buildout of the Magnet room, the RF Shield, and full MRI suite, and that is not always entirely correct. In addition to protecting others from the effect of the 5G field boundaries, builders  do not always fully understand the full set of build out considerations to be communicated to subcontractors related to the expensive RF shield in the MRI room.

As mentioned elsewhere on this site, and as I will mention again at this time, as it is so important and mentioned in the text above, please recall, the 5 Gauss Magnetic Field demarcation, is the location at which all individuals with Cardiac Pacemakers, Neurostimulators, or Bio stimulation devices, can expect to experience negative health effects due to the magnetic field of your MRI. The 5G boundary line cannot extend outside the walls of the MRI Magnet Room.

The copper RF shield when constructed correctly, eliminates the distortion of MRI images from the effect of Radio Frequency noise entering into the MRI Magnet Room and allows the MRI Magnet that you purchased or leased, to produce the best quality, interference free patient diagnostic images that your MRI unit can produce. The RF shield is essentially a box inside your MRI Magnet room, or cage of a sort, usually made of thin copper, that fits on the interior inside of the walls, ceilings, floors, doors, and windows (copper mesh screen). It is important for your builder to understand any item that physically penetrates your completed RF shield, such as lighting fixtures, must have adequate RF filters to eliminate the image distortions caused by EMI/RF noise. On some occasions , we have seen inadequate selection by the builder, of electrical sub-contractors working on electrical penetrations to the RF Shield that have resulted in delays and problems in the full MRI Magnet Room completion.  The Cryogen exhaust and ventilation ductwork requires builder familiarity as well. The venting of possible Helium from your MRI magnet, cannot be impeded in any way, and a minimum of bends, and degree of bends allowed  in the vent pipe must be observed by HVAC subcontractors. An Elbow Bend on the Cryogen ductwork cannot exceed 90 degrees.  There are significant Temperature, Humidity, Venting  and air exchange ventilation requirements that must be planned for and followed exactly.

When selected to provide OAC project consultation assistance on the MRI Imaging Center buildout, with our  detailed professional oversight from the beginning, we can help keep you from experiencing the mistakes and issues that result in rework, and additional expenses and project delays.

There are a significant number of safety issues and Industry safeguards that are all standard but crucial issues to deal with, that can be overlooked in the preplanning and final siting of an MRI Magnet in your MRI Imaging Center, to the detriment of all concerned.

We work very closely with the MRI vendor/manufacturer, physicist, architect and client to ensure the FINAL STUDY provided by the MRI supplier has provided architectural imaging suite specific plans, that reflect patient, staff, visitor and building occupant comfort and safety, and will result in the optimal performance of the MRI Magnet.

In the Consultation and Assistance Module , we will address

*Where are you at present in your MRI Imaging Center Project? Have you selected a site location?

Have you selected an MRI Magnet? Have you conducted Seismic and Vibration Testing on the site that you wish to locate your MRI? Have you finalized your MRI site lease?

• Your MRI Magnet must be shielded from the effects of RF Noise (Radio Frequency ) and EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) to facilitate artifact and distortion free MRI Images. We will discuss where the RF/ EMI noise can come from and provide crucial information on the work with contractors who will construct your RF shield in the MRI magnet room. Failure to build a competent RF shield will make it very difficult/impossible to create high quality MRI images, and your MRI studies will be plagued with distortion and imaging artifacts that cannot be allowed.
• The construction of the RF shield for your MRI Imaging Center can be quite expensive, as most RF shields are constructed of copper sheets, which has continued to be the most successful and preferred choice of RF shielding material for MRI Magnet Room construction. We can discuss this process and venders.
• We will discuss necessary penetrations to the RF shield such as can lights in the ceiling or spotlights to illuminate the room, and we will discuss how your building contractor must utilize appropriate filters to mitigate the potential RF “noise” from these lights and other RF Shield penetrations.
• We brief the electrical subcontractors to be aware of and understand the penetrations of the critically important, and very expensive, RF shield. This is an area in which we continue to see a great number of issues from subcontractors that can need to be addressed, and often are not addressed until you have a problem.

*If you have selected an MRI supplier, do you have an understanding of what they supply and what you are responsible for supplying, specifically in the build out of the MRI Magnet Room?

*Is your MRI going to be new or refurbished?

*Will your MRI be a 3T, 1.5T, or lower field or extremity MRI unit?

*Are you planning on siting your MRI Magnet, ground floor slab on grade, or on an upper floor?

*Have you selected an Architect, does that Architect have actual MRI Site build out experience, or not?

*Have you selected a builder/remodeler, and do they have MRI Site build out experience, or not?

*What are your thoughts, work to date, understanding of, the content we have provided in this section?

*Let’s make sure we have addressed all your questions.

*What are your needs, impressions and response to what we have provided content wise regarding containment of the 5 Gauss Field line? There are a number of additional information items that I will look forward to providing to you from experience on this, in our consultation. There is more to know about this topic.

*There is a significant amount of additional information and detail on understanding the build out of the RF shield in the MRI magnet room. What to avoid, what to insist on with Contractors and Sub Contractors, how the RF Shield Works, etc.

*What you need to know about/discuss, in the design and build out of the MRI Control Room.

*What you need to know about in the design and build out of the MRI Equipment Room.

*What you need to know about in the design and build out of the MRI dressing and locker room space.