MRI 'EXPOSIMETRY': HOW TO ANALYZE, COMPARE AND REPRESENT WORKER EXPOSURE TO STATIC MAGNETIC FIELD?

Worker exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) is a growing concern of international commissions. A European directive from 2013 (2013/35/EU) recommend to estimate or measure EMF exposure of all exposed workers. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) workers are specially concerned by this point because they work all day long in the vicinity of a very strong magnet (generally 1.5 or 3 T), which cannot be turned off. Setting up a magnetic field monitoring device on these workers would therefore be a good way to ensure their security. European directive threshold adequacy could then be verified. But this verification does not ensure a complete analysis of the worker exposure. Such an analysis based on quality control charts and exposure time's metrics has been described in this paper. The proposed magnetic field exposure analysis has additionally been tested on a long-term exposure follow-up of 18 MRI workers during 2 months.