Patient screening prior to MR imaging: a practical approach synthesized from protocols at 15 U. S. medical centers

The article by Boutin et al. [1] in this issue of the AJR documents a surprinsingly great variation in the MR screening procedures used at different academic centers throughout the United States. Although considerable literature now exists concerning the MR imaging of patients with ferromagnetic implants, devices, and foreign bodies [2-4], no uniform screening protocol to identify such patients has yet been adopted. The Safety Committee of the Society for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (SMRI) has recommended that "each imaging site should develop a standardized policy for screening patients with suspected metallic foreign bodies" [5]. To date, however, the SMRI has neither proposed nor endorsed a specific screening protocol for general use.