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The Importance of Site Planning for your MRI Magnet, and your MRI Imaging Center. - Module #5

In the siting (actual physical placement) of your MRI Magnet for your MRI Imaging center, it is very important to understand as there are critical MRI image resolution, MRI performance factors, and MRI Imaging; Patient, Patient Family, Staff Member and Visitor Magnetic Field safety issues, that must be considered early on in the pre-planning of your MRI Imaging Center Project. There can be MRI siting issues for consideration that can not only severely limit and affect the performance of your MRI Magnet and the resulting Diagnostic studies that it can provide, and can also make it very difficult, or unnecessarily expensive to site and install your MRI Magnet.

You will want to start by looking at ground level placement of your MRI in your MRI Imaging Center, what is known as “slab on grade” siting of your MRI. “Slab on Grade”'placement is the preferred siting placement scenario for your MRI Magnet, in your MRI Imaging Center Project. The last MRI that I placed for my client group in their MRI Imaging Center weighed 11,800 pounds, and your 1.5 Tesla MRI unit weight if you choose one, will be in that range. A 3.0 Tesla MRI unit will weigh much more. You will want to have very compelling reasons for placing your MRI Magnet on the second floor or higher, and you will want to think very seriously about not placing you MRI on the upper building floors. In addition to possible structural loading costs and other build out costs associated with the significant weight of the MRI unit and it’s placement on an upper building floor of your MRI Imaging Center Project, you also will need to be aware of and responsive to, the magnetic field layout of your MRI Magnet, and the associated health restrictions associated with the 5 Gauss Field boundaries of your MRI Magnet .

One of the most important design and build challenges to be carefully addressed in the proper siting of your MRI Magnet in your MRI Imaging Center, is to ensure the MRI unit is planned for, and is sited in a manner in which the effects of the 5 Gauss field magnetic line, is contained entirely within, and does not extend outside, the confines of the MRI Magnet exam room. Those individuals with cardiac pacemakers, neurostimulators, and bio stimulation devices can begin to experience the negative effect of the magnetic field on their medical devices and under no circumstances should these individuals come into contact with or be subjected to, the MRI Magnet, 5 Gauss Field and higher.

In the Pre-Planning for the preliminary and final MRI site plan for the installation of your MRI Magnet in your MRI Imaging Center, our consultants work closely with the Architect, MRI supplier and Vendor specialists and their design team members, to ensure a technical layout has been carefully designed and configured in which your MRI Technologist, other staff members, patients and their families and site visitors, are in a safely designed MRI Imaging Center, with the MRI magnetic field of 5 Gauss and stronger, safely contained within the confines of the MRI Magnet room.  If you site your MRI Magnet in you MRI Imaging Center, “Slab on grade” in a single level building , any 5 Gauss Field bulge below your floor slab normally will not cause any problem (Need to review the volume of steel content below the floor). Any bulge above the ceiling will not present a problem. The MRI site planner (manufacturer, supplier, in conjunction with your architect/builder/remodeler and your OAC consultant )  will still need to review the MRI Magnet Room configuration to move your magnet placement within the room in a manner sufficient to ensure the 5 Gauss Field, is fully contained within all four walls of the Magnet Room. The final Vendor design team plan, may need to be revised several times to guarantee the Magnet 5 G line is fully contained within the MRI Magnet room.

Your MRI Magnet Room location within your MRI Imaging Center will also need to be tested for EMI, Electromagnetic Interference, (#13 to follow) , this will be tested by the specialty subcontractor who will be constructing your MRI Magnet Room RF shield.  First and foremost, you will also need to receive Vibration/Seismic Testing before the installation of your MRI Magnet.( Vibration and Seismic Testing to follow in Module #6).

Depending on the location of the siting of your MRI Magnet; parking lot traffic, busy nearby roadways, and even proximity to some building elevators, can all make a difference in image quality and performance that must be accounted for in preplanning for your MRI site. Nearby commercial and industrial activity can affect your image quality as well.

If you have any questions or concerns of any type, regarding the proper, safe, image resolution enhancing, and expense minimizing , siting of your MRI Magnet in your MRI Imaging Center, we are here to assist you in working to make sure your MRI siting is planned and executed successfully. We would enjoy making sure this goes very well on your behalf.

In this Consultation and Assistance Module we will address

  • We manage the important conversations with your MRI vendor and what their design team should be supplying you in the form of a Multipage MRI Magnet Room, Control Room, and Equipment Room Buildout schematics, including the disclaimer and customer responsibilities, Site Readiness checklist, location planning reminders, and their form of Magnetic Interference guidelines. We are very familiar with the MRI Vendor design studies and layout schematics for their MRI placements at client sites and can quickly identify issues that will need to be addressed quickly and fully.
  • We review the detailed and very specific schematic that must be provided by your MRI vendor, of the MRI Magnet Room, MRI Control Room, and Equipment Room with a layout for your specific site, with the demarcations for the 3G, 5G, 10G, 30G, 50G, 100G and 200 Gauss field lines.
  • Please be aware, the multipage study and layout of the MRI site plan, sent by your magnet vendor team design team, may not initially show the 5 Gauss field line residing fully within the MRI Magnet room and the vendor may need to be “assisted” in revising the multipage study and layout documents, and as necessary revise the placement and positioning of the MRI Magnet within the Magnet Room, in order to fully contain the 5G line within the MRI Magnet Room. The MRI Vendor should be aware that it is not acceptable if the 5G line is not fully documented and displayed with the 5G line for your MRI Magnet fully contained within the MRI Maget Room. This is crucial in terms of liability, safety, and MRI vendor accountability. From time to time, the vendor may suggest the 5G line can reside just outside the exterior wall into a garden area, or bulge into an exterior storage cabinet and suggest a warning sign be installed. Your architect and Consultant will have provided the necessary set of Magnet Room dimensions to accommodate the safe siting of your MRI Magnet.

One Hundred percent of the time, on the projects in which that we are retained, our consultant group will ensure the Magnet will be sited and positioned safely and in a manner in which the 5G line is fully contained within the walls of the MRI Magnet room.

  • We will also discuss with the architect and building contractor the necessary aspects of the planning, placement and buildout of the MRI cryogen venting system, including a possible building chase. We can discuss what should be avoided, and what is more ideal in the Cryogen Venting system design and build.
  • We can discuss the weight and BTU output for key MRI equipment components and what that will mean to the client, and their architect and builder.
  • We can discuss the various MRI Imaging Center Rooms and what to consider, know about, and plan for with each; MRI Magnet Room, MRI Control Room, MRI Equipment Room, Dressing and Locker Room, Patient Toilet, Hallways, Patient reception and Patient waiting areas. We can also provide possible minimum room dimensions for each room.
  • We can discuss pre-action fire suppression systems for your very expensive MRI Magnet. We will introduce the possible need for supplemental equipment room cooling in your MRI Imaging Center due to tight room dimensions and high BTU heat output, with equipment that can be damaged without heat load mitigation efforts.
  • We can discuss options related to low cost and very efficient, city water back up cooling systems for the MRI Magnet, to be employed in the event of a power outage and to forestall a possible bleed off of expensive Helium (Quench). (This will be dealt with in greater depth in a following Consultation and Assistance Module #10).
  • We can discuss humidity and temperature requirements for the control room and magnet room.
  • We can discuss the four critical safety zones and access and control of the Magnet Room specifically.
  • With an existing slab on grade ferrous metal rebar in place, we can discuss the cement core cut and repour of cement with non-ferrous metal rebar.
  • We will discuss the design/build requirements of remote monitoring of the MRI unit, and the owner responsibilities in doing so.
  • We can provide preplanning assistance in IT pathways, MRI unit IT requirements, and the IT remote send and receive planning architecture for the teleradiology remote read and report return, including possible agreement for the archive of the MRI studies.
  • We can discuss any client MRI Magnet site under consideration and depending on information provided in advance of the Consultation and Assistance Module scheduled , can answer questions, and provide relevant feedback.

Beware of the MRI Magnet Room Retrofit!

Please be aware that we were contacted to work with an existing MRI magnet room that had previously housed an MRI which was long since removed. We had been advised the room was acceptable “as is," for a new Magnet Retrofit and would need little to no remodeling. The Magnet Room was not even remotely acceptable “as is”. It required a new engineering plan, and expensive, challenging and time consuming Carbon Steel placement. It required a totally new MRI Cryogen venting plan and construction buildout than the old MRI Magnet. It is important in this type of MRI Magnet Room Retrofit to know what you will run into and need to consider in a retrofit of an existing MRI Magnet and Equipment Room. This can unexpectedly be quite expensive and time consuming. We have very good information to share in the instance of an MRI Magnet Room retrofit after the removal of a previous MRI unit.