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Transient health symptoms of MRI staff working with 1.5 and 3.0 Tesla scanners in the UK

  • Magnetic Resonance
  • Published:
European Radiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objectives

Recent studies have consistently shown that amongst staff working with MRI, transient symptoms directly attributable to the MRI system including dizziness, nausea, tinnitus, and concentration problems are reported. This study assessed symptom prevalence and incidence in radiographers and other staff working with MRI in healthcare in the UK.

Methods

One hundred and four volunteer staff from eight sites completed a questionnaire and kept a diary to obtain information on subjective symptoms and work practices, and wore a magnetic field dosimeter during one to three randomly selected working days. Incidence of MRI-related symptoms was obtained for all shifts and prevalence of MRI-related and reference symptoms was associated to explanatory factors using ordinal regression.

Results

Incident symptoms related to working with MRI were reported in 4 % of shifts. Prevalence of MRI-related, but not reference symptoms were associated with number of hours per week working with MRI, shift length, and stress, but not with magnetic field strength (1.5 and 3 T) or measured magnetic field exposure.

Conclusions

Reporting of prevalent symptoms was associated with longer duration of working in MRI departments, but not with measured field strength of exposure. Other factors related to organisation and stress seem to contribute to increased reporting of MRI-related symptoms.

Key Points

• Routine work with MRI is associated with increased reporting of transient symptoms

• No link to the strength of the magnetic field was demonstrated.

• Organisational factors and stress additionally contribute to reporting of MRI-related symptoms

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Acknowledgments

The scientific guarantor of this publication is Dr. Frank de Vocht. The authors of this manuscript declare relationships with the following companies: SK developed, produces, and licenses the dosimeters used in this study through a University of Queensland company. This study has received funding by The COLT Foundation. More than one of the authors has significant statistical expertise. Institutional review board approval was obtained. Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects (patients) in this study. No study subjects or cohorts have been previously reported. Methodology: prospective and retrospective, cross-sectional study/observational, multicenter study.

The authors would like to thank all participants who volunteered for this study, as well as all local coordinators.

Funding source

The study was funded by a research grant from The COLT Foundation (grant number CF/01/11).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Canynge Hall, 39 Whatley Road, Bristol, UK, BS8 2PS

    Frank de Vocht

  2. Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

    Evridiki Batistatou

  3. Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Anna Mölter

  4. Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Hans Kromhout & Kristel Schaap

  5. Centre for Human Exposure Science, Institute of Occupational Medicine, Edinburgh, UK

    Martie van Tongeren

  6. School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

    Stuart Crozier

  7. Sir Peter Mansfield Magnetic Resonance Centre, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

    Penny Gowland

  8. Department of Medical Physics, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London, SE1 7EH, UK

    Stephen Keevil

  9. Department of Biomedical Engineering, King’s College London, London, SE1 7EH, UK

    Stephen Keevil

Authors
  1. Frank de Vocht
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  2. Evridiki Batistatou
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  3. Anna Mölter
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  4. Hans Kromhout
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  5. Kristel Schaap
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  6. Martie van Tongeren
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  7. Stuart Crozier
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  8. Penny Gowland
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  9. Stephen Keevil
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frank de Vocht.

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de Vocht, F., Batistatou, E., Mölter, A. et al. Transient health symptoms of MRI staff working with 1.5 and 3.0 Tesla scanners in the UK. Eur Radiol 25, 2718–2726 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-015-3629-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-015-3629-z

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