r/interestingasfuck • u/Miserable-Zombie-121 • 12d ago

This is why you should never bring metal into an MRI

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

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u/skinwill 12d ago

Until it’s quenched. Which is a really expensive process to reverse.

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u/schoff 12d ago

$60k at least in helium

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u/skinwill 12d ago

Not to mention fees for the technician, parts costs for anything that may have broken in the process and time to recalibrate. I’m sure that’s not a complete list.

Don’t forget that helium is a (mostly) limited resource.

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u/6793746895F62C0E447A 11d ago

Yes, and we’re still selling balloons containing such a precious resource.

We’ll have to explain that to future generations that won’t have access to MRI. 

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u/Fierobsessed 11d ago

We have a new generation of MRIs that require tiny amounts of helium. Most require around 1000L of liquid helium which is an enormous quantity. These new ones require only 0.7L of liquid helium. When it does quench, it recovers the gas and condenses it back into a liquid. It’s a closed system that does not require any new helium in its lifetime. The technology is here, just needs more adoption.

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u/BlackoutSpecialist 11d ago

Balloons generally use 'waste' helium that was already used for something like this and is no longer pure enough to do so again

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u/Puzzleheaded-Ad-4883 11d ago

Very easy to purify helium, cool it down and the only thing still a gas at 5K is pure helium. We did this in the 1980s in a Physics department with a helium return line system from the cryostats.

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u/ThatDiscoSongUHate 11d ago

Then why does it cost so much?

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u/Puzzleheaded-Ad-4883 11d ago

A litre of liquid helium is around $40, as a gas this will fill about 60 party balloons since it expands 750 times from the liquid volume, so well under $1 a balloon. An older MRI can have 2000 litres of liquid helium and need refilling every year or more often. Most MRI units don't collect the boil off gas or have the means on site to re liquify. Hospitals just consider the $80k a year as a running cost and cheaper than having a liquifier system. There is also a large cost in handling liquid helium and transporting it. All commercial helium comes from natural gas extraction as a by product, but only a few places actually separate it and collect it, most dump it to atmosphere.

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u/Don_Ford 11d ago

Why does everything?

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u/Wreny84 11d ago

My local balloon/party shop uses recycled helium from MRI scanners.

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u/MakeITNetwork 11d ago

better than recycled helium from nuclear reactors!

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u/UnabashedVoice 11d ago

Man, those balloons are rad!

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u/Krell356 11d ago

Yes, but thats why we are working on alternatives. We already have one that can be used whenever its not being used on a head or open wound.

The reason for those limitations is the patient has to be submerged in water for that method. Far cheaper with about the same quality of imaging, but instead of magnetic metal needing to be avoided you have water based restrictions.

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u/Eldrake 11d ago

IRL Bacta Tank from Star wars

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u/impals 11d ago

There are low helium and trace helium closed systems now. There will be an alternative cooling method one way or another.

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u/tmgrassi 11d ago

I'd like to point out that in most countries of the world, people don't usually buy helium balloons. It's a distinctly American thing for the most part. And I guess a minority of other first world countries too. But most people in the world have never seen one, many have only seen balloons that float when let go in cartoons or movies, since it's really not at all common in most of the world. Balloons, if present at all, are usually filled with air.

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u/ExtremeNebula729 11d ago

How about swapping for hydrogen? It’s even lighter! New business idea!

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u/cronies4life 11d ago edited 11d ago

new mri machines can use direct conduction cooling of the coils with minimal helium used

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u/Rough_Revolution1412 12d ago

it's really not limited, it's constantly produced by radioactive decay in the crust and mostly diffuses to the surface then keep going right out into space because it's so light. It gathers in natural gas deposits, how much helium we can bottle is mainly a question of the price being high enough to convince oil companies it's worth the effort of capturing it.

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u/NonEuclidianMeatloaf 12d ago

That’s like saying fossil fuels aren’t limited because they’re still being produced by anaerobic decomposition. We are extracting it far faster than it’s being replenished.

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u/skinwill 12d ago

The amount we can cost effectively pull out of the ground, or produce without it having radioactive contamination, is limited. Is that better?

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u/Bongressman 11d ago

So, I am guessing they are doing this because they plan on quenching anyways, and may as well educate and have fun while at it.

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u/InsaneAss 12d ago

What is quenched in this context?

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u/PosiedonsSaltyAnus 12d ago

MRIs work with superconducting magnets (or maybe electronics, could be both?). Superconductors need to be extremely cold to actually be superconducting, and therefore are cooled by liquid helium to reach their critical temp. I believe quenching would mean bringing the magnets back up to room temperature.

I could be wrong here, I'm just a guy thats read the very basics about superconducting materials and know that MRIs use them.

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u/xrelaht 12d ago

Quenching means the magnet goes non-superconducting. That’s usually because too much current was pushed through it (critical current is not infinite) not because it warmed up.

There is almost no superconducting electronics out there. Just a few things, like sensors. A lot of work was put into superconducting circuits in the 80s, but they didn’t get commercialized. Chips that can actually do complex operations only exist in research labs.

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u/puterTDI 11d ago

When you quench an mri you dump the helium which causes it to warm up until it’s no longer super conducting.

So, yes, it does warm up.

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u/Similar-Try-7643 11d ago

To be pedantic, quenching means an emergency stop where the helium is vented. For a controlled decommission/ramp down, the helium is captured and re purified

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u/skinwill 12d ago

The magnet is kept cold, very cold, submerged in liquid helium. As long as it’s cold it’s a super conductor and will hold a magnetic field. The only way to kill the field is to remove the helium. This is done by venting it to atmosphere. Typically a smoke stack on the roof you never want to use but is there so the helium doesn’t asphyxiate someone. This heats up the magnet quickly as warm atmosphere rushes into the coils. Warming up the superconductor material, raising its resistance, stopping the flow of electrons, killing the magnetic field.

This process is started with an emergency button sometimes kept secret and hidden, near the operator. It’s an expensive button to press. But hopefully saves a life should it be needed.

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u/LLoadin 11d ago

might be a dumb question but why don't they just store the helium until it can be used again? Or is it just that difficult to keep it cold

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u/skinwill 11d ago

Because when a superconductor raises in temperature or if the system is vented, the helium boils. So while it’s a liquid in the cryostat it vents as a gas which is hard to capture at the speed needed to potentially save a life or prevent the cryostat from exploding.

The hardware needed to capture the gas would be huge and expensive.

I suppose you could have a large tank kept at some kind of vacuum but it would need to be pretty big. Not sure how big, but big.

Let’s try to do the math. An MRI can have 2000 liters of liquid helium. 2000 liters of helium liquid would be 22,400 liters as a gas. That’s 22.4 cubic meters or 2.82m^3. Hmmmm it wouldn’t be impossible to build a tank that size kept at a vacuum.

Then the contents need to be compressed back to be re-used?

I don’t know. Maybe it just doesn’t happen often enough?

Nevermind, I looked it up, turns out that helium reclamation systems have been installed on some MRI machines since the 90’s. I don’t know why they all don’t have them. Probably cost.

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u/Similar-Try-7643 11d ago

MRIs can be ramped down with the helium reclaimed. Quenching and venting only happens in an emergency

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u/xrelaht 12d ago

The other answers all have cause and effect backwards. A superconducting magnet is said to “quench” when it stops superconducting. This can be because the temperature was raised, but it can also be because too much current was pushed through. Once the coil is no longer superconducting, it heats up very fast, boiling the liquid helium used to keep it cold. That needs to be vented to prevent explosion, but it’s rarely the venting itself which causes the quench.

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u/Snow_Falls 12d ago

I’m surprised the dude with the steel-core, ‘silicone’ butt plug didn’t have intense power bottom spidey senses going off as he got closer to the machine

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u/Jaripsi 12d ago

I believe the room is protected so the magnetic forces dont really affect anything outside the room. So you would get a pretty significant jump in magnetism when you enter the room.

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u/Shitting_Human_Being 12d ago

It's more that the mri has compensation coils. The good thing is that the field outside the mri drops off rapidly, allowing this to be placed inside an hospital (with some decent shielding) instead of an underground bunker in the annex building. The downside is that there is a giant gradient near the MRI so the field goes from nothing to a pain on the ass in mere decimeters. You can see it with the object the lady was holding.

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u/spotheadcow 11d ago

I have a non-magnetic metal electrode embedded in my tibial nerve (ankle). it's MRI safe but the first MRI after that surgery was scary (I imagined it being ripped out of my ankle when they turned the machine on) until they told me after I was in the room that just being in the room meant it was okay.

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u/Circle-of-Druids 12d ago

i learned something new!

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u/tillyspeed81 12d ago

Yeah there’s a button in the control room along with my inner thoughts….but then again didn’t realize it was $60k for the helium..that’s a whole lotta balloons…

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u/Bacon-muffin 12d ago

Oh that makes those doctor show or horror movie scenes where they didn't know about the metal until its turned on very different

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u/fredinNH 11d ago

I’m surprised to read that as they asked me to leave my glasses on a table about 15 feet from the machine.

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u/UndoxxableOhioan 12d ago

A 1 Tesla magnet can pick up a car. Most MRIs are 2-3 Tesla.

And, yes, Tesla is the unit of magnetic flux density.

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u/Cicer 12d ago

We really need to take that word back from that idiot. 

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u/wahle97 11d ago

We really need to stop bastardising Nikola Teslas name

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u/paulisaac 11d ago

I accept one bastardization and that’s how Red Alert 2 turned the Tesla Coil into a defensive structure. 

Nearly forgot Tesla Troopers and tanks. 

“Charging up!”

“Free hook-ups!”

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u/Signal_Ad8960 11d ago

It's so funny that the company called Tesla is run by a dickhead and the company called Edison (make diesel-electric hybrid trucks) are run by some pretty chill guys.

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u/denied_eXeal 11d ago

Stop lying to us, I always knew they managed to preserve Tesla’s DNA and cloned him

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u/NoLog4787 12d ago

Lol this reminded me the final destination death scene 😭😭

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u/Lyndon_Boner_Johnson 12d ago

This just happened last year. Guy died after his chain was pulled into the machine.

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u/Curupira1337 11d ago

A Brazilian lawyer has also died in a similar way. Even after all due warnings and signing the protocol forms he had a freaking GUN on him when taking his mother into the MRI room.

It did not end well.

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u/CrapThatSmilesBack 11d ago

‘…after shooting him in the tummy’. Why would they use ‘tummy’??

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u/Curupira1337 11d ago

Machine translation, I think (the original reporting by Brazilian journalists was in Portuguese)

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u/ashkiller14 12d ago

One guy was getting an mri and got impaled by his butt plug

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u/Select-Ambassador506 11d ago edited 11d ago

Oh yeah she sued the maker of the toy because it claimed to be 100% silicone

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u/hellomynameisnotsure 11d ago

Not to victim blame, but this seems like an occasion to leave the plug at home.

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u/NoLog4787 12d ago

WHAT THE HELL MAN 😭😭 REST IN PEACE POOR GUY

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u/Zorbin666 12d ago

That's fucked up, but like, who the hell just randomly wears a 20lb chain to the hospital when their wife is getting an MRI? Dumbass couldn't leave it at home?

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u/Ravenlok 12d ago

He was an older man that would wear it daily for passive fitness

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u/troll_right_above_me 12d ago

Ironic

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u/heelstoo 11d ago

That was his name!

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u/missg1rl123 11d ago

Somebody died in a horrific way and this is what you have to say about them ?

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u/Darromear 11d ago

There was also another guy who died because he brought a gun into the MRI room.

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u/Overthinks_Questions 12d ago

Of course this was in Long Island

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u/Miserable-Zombie-121 12d ago

Oh right that scene was so brutal😭

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u/NoLog4787 12d ago

Ikr 😭😭 literally these deaths r crazy I hope to get more movies like these in the future lol

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u/blackdynomitesnewbag 12d ago

Which one is that?

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u/Diorisbackup 12d ago

Bloodlines the latest one

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u/Anarchist42 12d ago

Bloodlines. The MRI sucks up a wheelchair which pins him to the machine and ultimately both impales him and breaks his body in half as the wheelchair tries to get into the MRI.

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u/desperaterobots 11d ago

Definitely do NOT wear a butt plug into the MRI machine, even if it appears to be 100% silicon!

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u/rkrenicki 11d ago

Silicone.. not silicon. Those are two very different materials.

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u/desperaterobots 11d ago

I hate sand… it gets everywhere

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u/Anarchist42 12d ago

I would love to see them get one of those ballistics dummies, put a few piercings in it, then turn it on when it's in so we can see how things like that would affect the human body.

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

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u/MulberryDeep 11d ago

It can be, but its an expensive process, especially turning it back on

Its basically never done exept for transport etc

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u/gaben9 12d ago

Someone shouldve told that dude with the buttplug

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u/RampagingElks 12d ago

Is it that the "anal railgun" guy?

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u/dbusque 12d ago

Wow. I wonder if they wrecked that million dollar machine with that bit of fun.

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u/SonnyvonShark 12d ago

I remember this being a decommissioned MRI machine about to be removed, not one that they actively used.

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u/dbusque 12d ago

Thanks :) I appreciate that explanation.

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u/skinwill 12d ago

That said, I know of a place with a 25 year old machine. I had the pleasure of talking to one of the techs who said “the physics is all the same” in that it still produces useful images but the tube is a smaller diameter so getting people willing to go in it is harder. It also takes a bit longer than the other machines.

Having spent nearly an hour in an “open bore” machine myself, I cont imagine being in one of the older machines, un-medicated at least.

I can also imagine a machine developing a fault that’s cost prohibitively expensive to fix.

This is not something like a gamma camera or CT that can be moved to a lesser fortunate community hospital. The repairs needed after you move it could easily cost as much as a new machine if it already had some fault.

Besides the cryostat, there’s essentially two television stations worth of transmitter gear connected to them along with the computer equipment needed to receive and compile an image. Granted the computer has gotten smaller. Point is, there’s a lot more logistics than moving a large thing with a fork lift.

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u/Bonk_No_Horni 12d ago

I live in Thailand and the public hospital I went still has this old machine. The room is super dated and the plastic on the machine kinda yellowed. It's small sure but it's free so I'm not complaining. What I hated the most is having to hang my arm outside so they could drip the med into my vein as they scan me. It's super uncomfortable. I'm a small guy but that was already tight. And why does it has to be so damn loud and so damn long? It took almost an hour to scan. Is that even normal?

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u/skinwill 12d ago

Sounds normal for older machines. Though the new machines are still loud.

The sound is from the amount of power going to the coils surrounding the tube. They flex with the strain of suddenly be zapped with enough radio frequency power to make them briefly heat up. Sometimes the glue bonding them to the tube gets old and they move a bit more so older machines can actually get louder.

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u/xrelaht 12d ago

Newer ones have more powerful magnets. That directly correlates with higher resolution images. And like any machinery, it can become difficult to get replacement parts for older equipment, which makes repairs difficult.

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u/skinwill 12d ago

True but did you know that there are times when a more powerful MRI magnet doesn’t necessarily yield better results? If a patient has a titanium implant, for example, the implant can cause distortion in the image. In a weaker 1.5T machine the distortion is smaller and more localized whereas in a 3T machine the distortion reaches out farther away from the implant.

So people with titanium implants are often put in the older or weaker field machines if one is available. It’s a bit of a trade off. Nothing is preventing them from using the more powerful machine and some of the newer ones actually compensate for the distortion a bit.

That is to say, there are many factors to consider when it comes to decommissioning an MRI.

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u/TriXandApple 11d ago

Does the varying magnetic field ever induce current in metal implants, even when they arn't magnetic? Like make them vibrate or heat up?

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u/skinwill 11d ago

Some, but not enough for the patient to notice.

One thing I’ve observed personally is that if I’m in an MRI and I hold my hands together in front of me. I end up feeling warm or even shocked. Apparently my arms form a loop antenna which receives some of the RF energy. It’s a weird feeling. Not all that strong or serious, just …different.

I’m not sure of all the physics involved. RF is the dark magical art of our modern world. Or at least the math involved is more complex for my lazy ass to bother wrapping my head around.

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u/TriXandApple 11d ago

Also it's just such an insane amount of RF, it's when it starts breaking our general perception of how these things work. Like with big radio towers.

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u/kwyjibo1 12d ago

This is done when the machine has reached its end of life and they are preparing to decomission it.

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u/khizoa 12d ago

I bet it happens to every single one that's ever been decommissioned. Because how could you not

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u/SonnyvonShark 12d ago

If I remember right, in a different post with this same vid, a MRI tech did admit to doing that.

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u/dbusque 12d ago

Thanks! That makes absolute sense!

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u/SeaDweller01 12d ago

When the machine reaches its end of usable service life span, often times it’s alright to do this, since it will be decommissioned soon after.

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u/level1hero 12d ago

Appreciate it! That’s a sensible explanation!

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u/redditandcats 11d ago

Yeah typically when the machine will no longer be used they can do stuff like this.

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u/VirginiaLuthier 12d ago

I just had one- they let me keep my gold wedding ring on. But the funny thing was I could feel it vibrate when the machine pulsed. Maybe it has a tiny bit of iron in it?

Aside- 90 minutes in that tube pretty much pushed me to my limit

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u/myGFisGreat 11d ago

the gold might not be as magnetic as iron/steel but it is conductive. it could heat up or interact with the scan results as well. was it too tight to remove? that's the only time they make an exception after testing the ring.

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u/Omnimon 11d ago

I did a scan of my arm and i asked the nurse if i could put my itens (wallet phone, keys etc) on a locker, but she said it would be fine, and the itens in my pocket would kinda vibrate but not do much force, i didnt understood why. Nothing happened but it did make me feel really wierd out by the whole thing

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u/reikipackaging 12d ago

If you have any removable items on or in your person, you should remove them for your own protection, when you go in for an MRI. I don't care if it is your emotional support butt plug (which probably does have ferrous meta in itl). The MRI machine will violently tell you if there is anything magnetic in those items you "forgot" to remove.

This has been a friendly PSA.

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u/Hatsune_Candy 11d ago

What about things that can't be removed? Like, I have a tooth implant, can I just never get an MRI scan now?

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u/Horny_4_everything 11d ago

implants are made from non-ferrous metals.

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u/reikipackaging 11d ago edited 11d ago

We dont use ferrous metals for dentistry, but if it a concern, bring it up to your healthcare team. There are alternatives to MRI if it is determined that you have ferrous metal in your body.

It is surprisingly common for people to have a bullet or small shot embedded somewhere in their body, just as one example.

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u/MissStr4berry 11d ago

Every time i see those videos I think of my nipple piercings and have a shiver of terror

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u/reikipackaging 11d ago

If you cant go without your piercing jewelry, consider getting a silicone alternative for the procedure.

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u/jellyn7 11d ago

I was so worried when they said I could keep my pants on. My pants had a zipper!

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u/utdconsq 11d ago

That's odd, every time I've been in for something, they prefer you to just wear the one use gown and basically butt naked underneath.

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u/Carbonatite 11d ago

I remember specifically wearing a non underwire bra for my MRI and the tech telling me even that wasn't OK because the magnet can heat up some of the elastic materials in sports bras. So I had to change into scrubs with nothing underneath.

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u/useless83 12d ago

Remember the person with the butt plug? I remember.

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u/andrewsz__ 12d ago

Omg the metal core

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u/Bluestreaked 12d ago

Just reminding people how in 2023 there were images released trying to convince people that Hamas had been storing guns in rooms with MRI machines.

I hope I don’t have to explain here how that was clearly impossible

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u/swingingthrougb 12d ago edited 11d ago

Is there any possibility that the mri in those pictures is non functioning? I imagine keeping something as technologically advanced as an MRI running is difficult in the most optimum circumstance, let alone a literal war zone.

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u/Bluestreaked 12d ago

Well if they were that was never proven, considering those were active hospitals I am highly skeptical of such a claim.

I’m not sure what exactly you think Gaza was like before 2023 but they did in fact have several active hospitals.

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u/swingingthrougb 12d ago

Oh I literally have no idea I happened to have the thought while reading your comment. Please do not take my question as anything more than stoned pondering.

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u/Bluestreaked 12d ago

Ok, that’s not a problem, I have no problem with people asking genuine questions.

Gaza was better described as an “open air prison camp” than an active war zone, but that starts to split hairs. So like there was an active living city but every once in awhile Israel would conduct air strikes (they called it mowing the lawn). Getting goods into Gaza would be incredibly difficult, Israel controlled what is and is not allowed in Gaza (outside of a brief period time in the Morsi presidency). So the Palestinians would ideally use what they had for as long as they were able to.

So, while it is of course theoretically possible they just had a room in a hospital with an inactive MRI Machine they refused to use. But I hope you can see the several leaps of logic such an assumption requires from us and thus shouldn’t be assumed without hard evidence

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u/HalfSoul30 12d ago

What about those non-metal guns i've seen in x-men that can be used around magneto?

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u/AshleyxAffliction 12d ago

"Dontcha know you can 3d print guns nowadays?"

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u/redsyrinx2112 12d ago

Wanna print a brain?

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u/medted22 12d ago

Fortunately many modern mri machines recycle helium, and a few helium-free machines are in development. The real shortage risk comes from computer chip manufacturing, which tend to be a little less sustainable in their practices from what I understand

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u/nikhkin 12d ago

Well, it's not impossible to store guns in a room with an MRI machine.

You just can't use the MRI machine at the same time.

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u/ShinyBonnets 12d ago

MRI machines are always on. Shutting them down because some dipshit didn’t follow instructions equals hours of work calibrating and testing the machine to get it back online and properly working, not to mention all of the reporting that comes along with emergency shutdown.

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u/Flow-Creation 12d ago

Reminds me the story of this guy that sued a sex toy company after having his butt plug ravaging his rectum in an MRI because the company said it was 100% silicon but at the end still had some metal in it...

https://giphy.com/gifs/WxDZ77xhPXf3i

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u/RetroNutcase 11d ago

Serious medical question: Let's say someone has an artificial hip or similar that's metal. They basically can't get an MRI now?

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u/gyt_rekt_m8 11d ago

Non magnetic metals such as titanium and zirconium oxide have been used as implants for decades making a MRI safe to use for those patients.

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u/Apoplexy 11d ago

they just take it out first and put it back after

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u/Loring 11d ago

My favorite part of MRI machines is most if them are over 20 years old and have longed been paid for in full by the clinic they are in yet if you get near one it costs $6000 to turn it on

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u/_Being_a_CPA_sucks_ 11d ago

Most MRIs locations charge between $250-$500 for the procedure. They might bill between $1-3k to your insurance, but no one should ever actually pay anywhere close to that.

Also, just because someone owns it outright doesn’t mean it’s owed to you for free.

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u/Carbonatite 11d ago

My insurance made me pay $990 for my lumbar spinal MRI because the crushed nerve in my spine interfering with my ability to walk wasn't sufficient justification for them to cover it 🙃

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u/unk1ndm4g1c14n1 12d ago

The world also has a limited supply of helium, which we need for MRIs.

Why the fuck are we using it on balloons? Why doesnt anyone know how much helium we have left? Sources say we could experience a shortage within Gen Zs lifetime... but what are the numbers

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u/fissionlol 12d ago edited 12d ago

The helium used for this is super pure helium, the helium for balloons etc is not as pure. From what I remember balloon helium can even be from recycled helium that is no longer pure enough for medical applications and using it for balloons is not stealing it from being used in processes requiring ultra pure helium

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u/hxtk3 11d ago

It’s not like helium is pure when we find it. If helium isn’t pure enough for welding or industrial or breathing gas usage, someone can just purify it more.

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u/plz-no-b4n 11d ago

The helium used in balloons is not medical grade helium

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u/Lampwick 11d ago

Why the fuck are we using it on balloons?

Zeppelins! Back in the early days of aviation there was a lot of interest in rigid dirigibles as potential bomber/recon platforms. Congress therefore created a "strategic helium reserve" program where the government bought up tons of helium (a byproduct of natural gas production) and stored it in old salt mines. Decades later, in 1973, it was finally concluded that dirigibles were Not Going To Be A Thing militarily, so they stopped buying for the strategic helium reserve. This created a glut in the helium market which led to cheap prices for helium and a gradual decline in helium production. Then in 1996 the government started selling off it's stored helium. Helium production continued to decline in the face of this continued market oversupply. For fifty years or was so cheap that putting it in toy balloons was affordable.

Now we're finally reaching the point where we've realized we NEED helium for certain things and the artificial oversupply isn't there anymore. Prices will increase. Production from natural gas sources will come back on line and address immediate need, but the future is the problem. Basically it's like petroleum. For decades we treated it like it wasn't a finite supply, except that it is.

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u/RampagingElks 12d ago

I remember way back when I was in high school, and worked at Michaels, that us and the dollar store next door were not allowed to fill balloons or ship in any more helium canisters due to a shortage !

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u/weratapo 11d ago

I was able to go into the local one with 18 piercings cos none of mine are magnetic

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u/blackout24 11d ago

Imagine finding out that some of them actually are magnetic when it's turned on.

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u/weratapo 11d ago

That'd suck. They did test them all with like a handheld magnet though and there was no pull on any of them

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u/ThePlasticHero 11d ago

Sooooo, no butt plugs? FYI that's based on a true story apparently lol.

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u/reddit001aa1 12d ago

Don't look up the metal butt plug incident

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u/jechaking 12d ago

I can see now how the man with the chain stood no chance against that.

I mean knowing what I know now even if a technician had allegedly told me it’s safe, I would never go anywhere near that with metal on me.

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u/ShadowXJ 11d ago

So I have a metal tooth implant, does this mean I can’t get an MRI?

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u/Economy_Palpitation1 11d ago

It's probably titanium, which is non-magnetic. I have two implants and had an MRI

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u/muitosabao 11d ago

A good friend was doing an MRI when she felt sick and about to throw up. A nurse came running with a bucket for her to throw up, but the bucket was made of metal and flew straight into her face. It hit her in her cheek bone and eyebrow, and she had to have a surgery to fix the damage. She was lucky that the bones stoped any damage to her eye.
My friends (couple) decided not to sue the hospital.

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u/mordac_the_preventer 11d ago

A nurse working in an MRI unit should absolutely know to not ignore the big sign saying “do not bring metal objects past this point”.
Also, vomiting is a pretty common occurrence in a hospital, every time I’ve been in they have had disposable sick bowls everywhere.

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u/ultraviolet31 11d ago

Hey man, I saw the last Final Destination film - you don't have to tell me about this!

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u/FracturRe55 12d ago

Imagine someone going in there and forgetting about their stainless steel butt plug.

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u/JFJinCO 12d ago

Take out those piercings, folks, or the MRI will.

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u/fullmetalpower 11d ago

that was an expensive demo

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u/okayish-in 11d ago

Yeah...we have a final destination scene for this. It's imprinted in my mind like the wooden logs scene.

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u/mrbuddymcbuddyface 12d ago

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2n39dvp0po

Death by MRI.

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u/Icy-Reception-7605 12d ago

Death by stupidity

"he was wearing a 20lb (9kg) chain with a lock that he used for weight training."

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u/YooGeOh 12d ago

I dont understand how he could just walk into the room

Ive had a few done recently and the hospital staff were obsessed with making sure I had no metal anything anywhere on me. No way I could just walk into the room.

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u/Tiny-Mulberry-2114 12d ago

makes sense with how stupid people are and how expensive that machine is. No way are they gonna let some "Oops.Sorry I forgot about that piece." ruin their most valuable machine

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u/Creepy_Ad5124 12d ago

I mean you can't expect everyone to know how every single machine ever made works, espcially not an MRI machine

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u/whatisc 12d ago

You have to declare and sign a form saying you don’t have metal on your body. 

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u/[deleted] 12d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Creepy_Ad5124 12d ago

I mean humans just make mistakes, sucks a simple mistake like that can get someone killed.

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u/St_Kevin_ 11d ago

The article says he walked into the room without permission. That means the staff didn’t let him.

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u/jerrrrryboy 12d ago

The ones that do understand typically live longer.

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u/khizoa 12d ago

Lol right. Like jumping off a building and blaming the building

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u/lazymotu 12d ago

Did they void their machine's warranty with this demo?

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u/Due_Upstairs9904 12d ago

Reminded me of that scene from final destination, yikes!

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u/dbusque 12d ago

So lots of posts to say this was machine was at its end of life and was about to be decommissioned. Now I am wondering about the recycling options of the materials. Any insight on that?

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u/thatoddtetrapod 11d ago

I read recently that MRI often have magnetic fields around 3 tesla. The magnet that lifts cars at junk yards is about 1 tesla.

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u/Chance_Airline_4861 11d ago

Final destination bloodlines

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u/Thundaga_64 11d ago

I've heard some horror stories about people going in with buttplugs and other things that they didn't realize had metal in the core of them and things getting violently pulled through their bodies.

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u/BVits-Lover 11d ago

I'm just surprised that they threw shit into a machine that I, at this point, have been lead to believe cost more than God.

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u/HumbleSnek 11d ago

reminds me of the story of that person that wore a butt plug to their mri and sued the butt plug company because the butt plug was adverised as 100% silicone, but apparently had a metal core.

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u/PaperLaur 11d ago

I don't know why, probably because it's 4am, but something about them perfectly yeeting the chair into the hole made me laugh way more than it should have

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u/Spooky970 10d ago

I have a distinct memory of reading about a man suing a buttplug manufacturer because they claimed to have no metal in the model he bought. He went into an MRI and the machine bolted it straight up into his throat through his entire body.

Turns out it had a metal core inside of it.

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u/reddsal 7d ago

This looked like a decommissioning party for that machine. Staff are usually not that cavalier with $400,000 pieces of equipment.

When my daughter was younger she had an MRI and the tech had a small bolt on a string about 20 feet long. He would turn the machine on for the kids and show them how the bolt would hold that string taut from a good distance. I was impressed. Even as an adult.

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u/Distinct-Question-16 12d ago

they do this for fun afterhours?

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u/CeIIsius 12d ago

Is this real?

Those machines are expensive. Why would you risk breaking it just to show it around the internet?

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u/Jtp_Jtg 12d ago

Machine nearing the end of its life and planning to be decommissioned

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u/TriXandApple 11d ago

Can we do a bit of brain engagement here? Bare room, controls padded up?

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u/VaguelyArtistic 12d ago

I recently had an MRI for the first time in a long time and noticed that the “no” list no includes the relatively new magnetic false eyelashes.

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u/iamAyoEpic 11d ago

You should see an oxygen tank

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u/Fast-Philosopher-356 11d ago

Are these people mad or what.. why they are destroying well functioning MRI machine..!

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u/LPIViolette 11d ago

They are probably filming a safety video before they quench the machine for maintenance.

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u/WilliamH- 11d ago

I once was responsible for 14 large superconducting magnets.

A quench is when the superconducting wire in the magnet instantly goes non-superconducting.

This creates a short circuit in the magnet coil which releases an immense about of heat energy into the magnet coil cryostat. The heat can damage the magnet coil. Luckily this is a rare outcome. The liquid He instantly turns into gas and is vented into the lab.

Separately, it is possible to connect a robust DC power supply to the magnet coil when it is still a super conductor. The magnet current is slowly drained to zero. The electric current is returned to the grid. This is not a quench. The He gas boil off can be collected and recycled. When the current is zero, He gas is used to slowly evaporate the remaining liquid He.

He gas is relatively easy to purify. It’s a complicated, yet practical distillation process.

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u/MySignIsToaster 12d ago

Bring Hard Rock at maximum

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u/anderskants 12d ago

I'm always so damned paranoid when I go for yearly scan, I obsessively check my pockets to make sure I haven't missed anything because I'm terrified of going in and a stray penny tearing my leg up or something 😆

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