What if I forgot to remove a piercing before an MRI?

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides an unparalleled view inside the human body. The level of detail that MRI provides is extraordinary. It's the method of choice for the diagnosis of many types of injuries and conditions because of the incredible ability to tailor the exam to the particular medical question being asked.

The biggest and most important component in an MRI system is the magnet. The magnet is rated using a unit of measure known as a tesla. Another unit of measure commonly used with magnets is the gauss (1 tesla = 10,000 gauss). The magnets commonly used today in MRI are in the 0.5-tesla to 3.0-tesla range, or 5,000 to 30,000 gauss. Magnetic fields greater than 3 tesla haven't been approved for use in medical imaging, though much more powerful magnets -- up to 60 tesla -- are used in research. Compared with the Earth's 0.5-gauss magnetic field, you can see how incredibly powerful these magnets are.

Because of the power of these magnets, the MRI suite can be a very dangerous place if strict precautions aren't observed. Metal objects can become dangerous projectiles if they are taken into the scan room. For example, paperclips, pens, keys, scissors, hemostats, stethoscopes and any other small objects can be pulled out of pockets and off the body without warning, at which point they fly toward the opening of the magnet (where the patient is placed) at very high speeds, posing a threat to everyone in the room. Credit cards, bankcards and anything else with magnetic encoding will be erased by most MRI systems.

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The magnetic force exerted on an object increases exponentially as it nears the magnet. Imagine standing 15 feet (4.6 meters) away from the magnet with a large pipe wrench in your hand. You might feel a slight pull. Take a couple of steps closer and that pull is much stronger. When you get to within 3 feet (1 meter) of the magnet, it's likely the wrench will be pulled from your grasp. The more mass an object has, the more dangerous it can be -- the force with which it's attracted to the magnet is much stronger. Mop buckets, vacuum cleaners, IV poles, oxygen tanks, patient stretchers, heart monitors and countless other objects have all been pulled into the magnetic fields of MRI machines. Smaller objects can usually be pulled free of the magnet by hand. Large ones may have to be pulled away with a winch, or the magnetic field may even have to be shut down.

Prior to a patient or support staff member being allowed into the scan room, he or she is thoroughly screened for metal objects -- and not just external objects. Often, patients have implants inside them that make it very dangerous for them to be in the presence of a strong magnetic field. Metallic fragments in the eye are very dangerous because moving those fragments could cause eye damage or blindness. People with pacemakers can't be scanned or even go near the scanner because the magnet can cause the pacemaker to malfunction. Aneurysm clips in the brain can be very dangerous as the magnet can move them, causing them to tear the very artery they were placed on to repair.

As you can see, MRI magnetic fields are incredibly strong. If a piece of metal were missed during your screening, it could cause a problem. Jewelry flying from your body and into the MRI machine is entirely possible.

What if I forgot to remove a piercing before an MRI?

Has it happened before?

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