The last week of July we always commemorate MRI Safety Week, in our Radiology Department at Cincinnati Children’s. We celebrate our MRI safety knowledge and efforts we put towards MRI safety all week long. Why the last week of July and why such a huge emphasis on MRI safety?
July 31, 2001, marked the day Michael Colombini 6-year-old boy died after undergoing an MRI exam at a New York-area hospital when the machine’s powerful magnetic field jerked a metal oxygen tank across the room, causing the child’s death. His death galvanized nationwide safety standards and organization in MRI safety.
In 2001, our then-current Radiologist-in-Chief, Dr. Janet Strife asked one of our faculty members, Dr. Blaise Jones, to create a formal MRI Safety program. Twenty years later, using guidelines from the American College of Radiology (ACR) on MRI safety we have implemented several protocols, policies and equipment to aid us in providing MRI safety to our patients, families and staff.
Some of these guidelines include:
The list above is just a few of our MRI safety measures that we have put in place in order to keep everyone safe. It shows our commitment to MRI Safety since it first started twenty years ago.
Meredith Towbin, copy editor