South Korean man dies after oxygen cylinder sucked into MRI machine
- The 60-year-old patient was hit in the head by a 60kg oxygen cylinder while undergoing a magnetic resonance imaging scan at a hospital in Gimhae
- Projectiles are one of the biggest dangers associated with MRI scanners, as the strong magnetic fields they generate cause metal objects to become airborne
The man, who has not been named, was admitted to the MRI suite in a hospital late on Thursday in a critical condition, suffering from seizures.
“We’re investigating why the oxygen tank was brought into the room,” Police Superintendent Choi Tae-yong told This Week In Asia, adding that the inbuilt oxygen supply system may have been malfunctioning. “We will thoroughly investigate the incident to determine whether human errors were involved.”
Projectiles are one of the biggest dangers associated with MRI scanners, as the strong magnetic fields generated by the machines – which are up to 60,000 times stronger than the Earth’s magnetic field – attract metal objects and cause them to become airborne.
There are more than 1,700 MRI scanners in South Korea and while incidents involving small metal objects have happened in the past, Park Beom-jin of the Korea Society of Radiology said he had “never seen a thing like this happening in this country”.
“Medical personnel working in MRI rooms should exercise extreme caution to make sure that nothing metallic is brought in. This accident should not have happened,” said Park, who is also a professor at the Korea University Anam Hospital.