MRI BURN INJURY – DAY ONE
On Thursday 11/17/16 I was burned on a 3Tesla MRI machine at a local MRI facility in Scottsdale, AZ during a routine CSpine/Thoracic scan.
My neurologist had ordered the MRI to check the status of an old neck injury (which happened in April 2011). He was concerned about upper cervical instability and possible brain stem compression, but that’s another story. My MRI was to be cervical thoracic spine procedures done back to back. I’d had many MRI’s before of my cervical spine without incident but never a thoracic.
My appointment was for 1.15pm but when I arrived the facility was backed up and staff was trying to get patients in and out as soon as possible. I waited for a while and was then hurried into the MRI room (probably around 1:45) and placed on the MRI machine bed (still warm from the previous patient). I was given special boxer shorts to wear but not a full gown and was wearing a plain cotton T-shirt. I was given headphone apparatus but not earplugs. I was positioned lying on my back and entered head first. There was no padding used during the study but no part of my body touched the walls of the machine. I held the ‘panic’ button in my right hand and my hands came together just below my sternum in a typical ‘praying’ position so my arms rested on my upper abdomen as opposed to down by my sides. The procedure was started immediately. No communication with technicians. About 10 minutes in I felt the noise level was too high so I pressed the button and asked if I could be given some earplugs as well as the headset. I was given these, shunted back in and the procedure continued.
For the first 15 minutes or so (during the cervical scan) everything seemed to be going fine. Then about 10 minutes into the 2nd procedure (thoracic) I started to feel a sort of prickly vibrating heat hitting my skin. It felt like a kind of rippling wave and I started to feel quite warm. It even seemed to vibrate my T-shirt and penetrate through. It was accompanied by a loud hum which I could hear over and above the typical clicking sound. I had never felt or heard anything like this on previous MRI procedures. The sensation wasn’t excruciatingly painful like you would expect from a contact burn and since I was half way through the 2nd procedure I just decided I would just see it through. This decision would probably turn out to be one of the worst of my life. The combined CSpine/Thoracic procedure took approximately 30-40 minutes and I felt this sensation for about the last 10.
When I got off the table I felt hot, like I had been ‘cooked’ and mentioned it to the technician. She said it was normal to feel a bit warm when the machine had been running for a while. As the day wore on my skin got redder and redder. It’s hard to remember it hour by hour but by the time my wife arrived home from work around 5.30 I was pretty red and felt and looked like I had a bad sunburn. I started applying Aloe Vera gels and lotions. By the next morning I was very red and sore. I was pretty concerned and worried there may be deeper tissue damage. I decided to call the office manager at the clinic and explained the problem. She was non-committal and told me that they had had no other similar complaints from the same day. When I asked her whether they had ever had any complaints like mine she was a bit hesitant and said she thought they had had a few but not for at least 6 months or so. She said the sunburn feeling would go away after a few days. I was again dubious and I told her if it hadn’t gone within a few days I would go and see my doctor.
Little did I know what was to come!