MRI and rings?

[skeggysteve]

Wife has to have an MRI scan on her lower back but due to weight increase can't get her wedding ring off.

The private company that do the scan (artic trailer in the hospital carpark) say that she must remove the ring.
When questioned the person that answered the phone didn't quite have a perfect grasp of the English language so just insisted that my wife go straight to hospital as her finger swelling could be very serious.

Rang the GP and got told to go to a fire station to have it cut off!

I'm wondering why a gold ring (gold being non magnetic) need to be removed to have a M (magnetic) RI.

So does anyone have any real info on this or any ideas where to get a ring cut of without bothering the fire service!

[skeggysteve]

Thanks all for the replies.

Wife spoke to the hospital trust and they said she shouldn't have to remove a gold wedding ring but as the MRI is being done by a private company they may have different rules.

Good call on jewellers as I'll have to find one to get it repaired not sure why I didn't think it!

She MRI a few years ago only her head was in the machine, they called it a brain scan, for a ear problem so knows all about the noise. Yes.I did ask if they found a brain but I didn't get a reply just a 'look'!

The Doc - I did wonder how people with nut and bolts holding them together got on with an MRI.

[skeggysteve]

Prof Prolapse said:

Pure gold is non-magnetic.

If your wife's ring was 26K you wouldn't have these issues in removing it though.

- the ring is 22k but I understand what your saying - pure gold is very soft.

Anyway an update so if anyone searches they get a full story.

Wife went for the MRI today - she had to remove her bra due to the metal fastner but when she asked about her ring they said 'of course not'.
She had a set of headphones so the staff could talked to her, she also had a hand held 'get me out of here button'.
Not a nice experience (but in no way painful, just unpleasant) but if it finds the problem then it's worth it.

[skeggysteve]

Flibble said:

mrmr96 said:

Can gold get a current induced in it by a magnetic field? Or does that only work for ferrous metals too?

Works for any metal, though there's a greater effect in ferromagnetic metals. I don't know if you'd get enough heating from the induced current for it to be a problem.

The senior radiographer that told us that they would never ask for wedding rings to be removed also said that the MRI could heat the ring but the length of time a person would be in the scanner it wouldn't be a problem.