Shielding as an Effective Engineering Control for Occupational Exposure to MRI-related Electromagnetic Fields: a Brief Review

Electromagnetic fields emitted by magnetic resonance imaging scanners are accountable for transient exposure-related health effects. The ferromagnetic objects attracted by strong magnetic fields are ascribed to injuries among patients with relatively no literature suggesting safety risks to MRI staff. Although ferromagnetic objects are ballistic, the benefits of shielding materials integrated with copper, aluminum, nickel polymers and carbon fiber are considered significant. This paper aimed to provide a brief review on how electromagnetic fields emitted by magnetic resonance imaging scanners could cause exposure-related effects as well as safety injuries from projectile effects and how such exposure scenarios can be eluded using various shielding methods. In this paper, shielding is recognized as an engineering approach that provides the most effective attenuation for electromagnetic fields in the magnetic resonance imaging facilities. Several studies suggest that shielding materials could be approached, either in a form of films, shield specific paint products or reactive shielding methods and in this paper, their significant role is discussed.