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The 'radiation' involved in an MRI is electro-magnetic radiation, otherwise known as radio waves. It's true that the field strengths involved are thousands of t

The 'radiation' involved in an MRI is electro-magnetic radiation, otherwise known as radio waves. It's true that the field strengths involved are thousands of times stronger than what you encounter in everyday life but they are by no means harmful the way that ionizing particle radiation (X-rays, gammra rays, etc) is... The most likely side effect is peripheral nerve stimulation and even that highly unlikely because the field strengths are controlled to avoid it... In general MRIs are perfectly harmless and don't have any serious or lasting side-effects. Check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_resonance_imaging http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_resonance_imaging for more info

sachinag 17y ago
See, I read that to make sure I wasn't crazy, and I just didn't see the distinction. I want to be clear: you're saying it's totally safe to get an MRI or a full body scan or whatever else as a totally elective procedure?
- yummyfajitas 17y ago
  An MRI below about 5-6 teslas is perfectly safe provided there is no ferrous shrapnel in your body. If there is shrapnel in your body, the magnet will pull it out and cut your body in the process. (The X-ray is done to make sure you don't have any shrapnel and also because it is cheaper. If the X-ray reveals the problem, you can avoid the more expensive MRI.) RF radiation will only harm the human body at very high field strengths (think microwave oven). The typical medical machine only gets 1-3 teslas, though a few research machines can reach the 6-8 tesla neighborhood (e.g., Dan Sodickson has an 8 tesla machine here at NYU).
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- Confusion 17y ago
  you're saying it's totally safe to get an MRI or a full body scan As safe as anything else you'd do without thinking twice.
zokier 17y ago
X-rays and Gamma rays are "only" electro-magentic radiation too. As are microwaves, and most people wouldn't place their heads into a running microwave oven. I'm not saying that the radiation used in MRI would be harmful, but saying that its harmless because it's electro-magnetic is just plain wrong.
- aarongough 17y ago
  Perfectly true, I phrased my comment the way I did to get away from the idea that 'all radiation is bad'. EM radiation can be dangerous in that it can cook you if there's too much of it... However it's far less likely to cause the serious tissue and genetic damage that particle radiation would. I would gladly put my hand in a microwave before I would be willing to bathed in gamma rays...

sachinag 17y ago

See, I read that to make sure I wasn't crazy, and I just didn't see the distinction. I want to be clear: you're saying it's totally safe to get an MRI or a full body scan or whatever else as a totally elective procedure?

yummyfajitas 17y ago
An MRI below about 5-6 teslas is perfectly safe provided there is no ferrous shrapnel in your body. If there is shrapnel in your body, the magnet will pull it out and cut your body in the process. (The X-ray is done to make sure you don't have any shrapnel and also because it is cheaper. If the X-ray reveals the problem, you can avoid the more expensive MRI.) RF radiation will only harm the human body at very high field strengths (think microwave oven). The typical medical machine only gets 1-3 teslas, though a few research machines can reach the 6-8 tesla neighborhood (e.g., Dan Sodickson has an 8 tesla machine here at NYU).
- deleted 17y ago
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Confusion 17y ago
you're saying it's totally safe to get an MRI or a full body scan As safe as anything else you'd do without thinking twice.

zokier 17y ago

X-rays and Gamma rays are "only" electro-magentic radiation too. As are microwaves, and most people wouldn't place their heads into a running microwave oven. I'm not saying that the radiation used in MRI would be harmful, but saying that its harmless because it's electro-magnetic is just plain wrong.

aarongough 17y ago
Perfectly true, I phrased my comment the way I did to get away from the idea that 'all radiation is bad'. EM radiation can be dangerous in that it can cook you if there's too much of it... However it's far less likely to cause the serious tissue and genetic damage that particle radiation would. I would gladly put my hand in a microwave before I would be willing to bathed in gamma rays...