On Saturday 11/19/16
The next day I went to see my family doctor who also happens to specialize in dermatology. She said she was unfamiliar with MRI related burn injuries but after looking at me felt it had been caused by some type of thermal exposure and advised use of cooling gels and lotions. She consulted with an MRI physicist about the problem and was told : “Regarding the burn: I’d definitely recommend the pt to be checked out by a Dermatologist. MR burns typically starts at subcutaneous fat (no pain receptors) and moves up to epidermis. If the pt was not sedated during the scan and ended up with a burn, there is a clear chance that the patient has damage under the skin that is not visible. After researching this issue myself I discover articles that describe RF related burns from high power MRI machines. In fact burn injuries are seemingly the highest reported type of MRI related injury. Apparently during MRI, if RF power is not deposited uniformly into the patient’s body blood flow redistributes this energy, resulting in non-uniform in vivo temperatures. Because certain in vivo regions become hotter than the rest, temperatures go beyond a safe value and RF burns occur. I believe this is what has happened to me.
Monday 11/21/16 and I am still feeling the burning prickling feeling on my skin. I decided to schedule another doctor’s visit to discuss if there are any other tests that should be done to rule out deeper tissue injury since I don’t know how deep the heat penetration was. (blood work etc.). I also decide to start reaching out to subject matter experts in MRI to try to find out what may have happened. MRI physicists, safety experts, anyone who knows anything about MRI technology. My first contact is to a renowned MRI safety expert and Professor of Radiology at USC. After looking at my account and reviewing pictures his his initial reaction is that this is RF radiation burn and that I needed to be checked out ASAP by a dermatologist.
Getting scared …