Tag: Campi Magnetici

Exposure to MRI-related magnetic fields and vertigo in MRI workers

[Considerato che nella storia clinica di molti Elettrosensibili (soprattutto di quelli con la sintomatologia più grave), esiste come trigger della malattia o suo aggravamento proprio l’essere stati sottoposti ad imaging a Risonanza Magnetica, abbiamo ritenuto interessante condividere il presente articolo.
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Occup Environ Med doi:10.1136/oemed-2015-103019

By:
Kristel SchaapLützen PortengenHans Kromhout

Author Affiliations:
Division of Environmental Epidemiology, Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

ARTICLE INFO

Article history
Received :13 April 2015
Revised: 16 September 2015
Accepted: 21 October 2015
Published Online First: 11 November 2015

ABSTRACT

Objectives Vertigo has been reported by people working around magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners and was found to increase with increasing strength of scanner magnets. This suggests an association with exposure to static magnetic fields (SMF) and/or motion-induced time-varying magnetic fields (TVMF). This study assessed the association between various metrics of shift-long exposure to SMF and TVMF and self-reported vertigo among MRI workers.

Methods We analysed 358 shifts from 234 employees at 14 MRI facilities in the Netherlands. Participants used logbooks to report vertigo experienced during the work day at the MRI facility. In addition, personal exposure to SMF and TVMF was measured during the same shifts, using portable magnetic field dosimeters.

Results Vertigo was reported during 22 shifts by 20 participants and was significantly associated with peak and time-weighted average (TWA) metrics of SMF as well as TVMF exposure. Associations were most evident with full-shift TWA TVMF exposure. The probability of vertigo occurrence during a work shift exceeded 5% at peak exposure levels of 409 mT and 477 mT/s and at full-shift TWA levels of 3 mT and 0.6 mT/s.

Conclusions These results confirm the hypothesis that vertigo is associated with exposure to MRI-related SMF and TVMF. Strong correlations between various metrics of shift-long exposure make it difficult to disentangle the effects of SMF and TVMF exposure, or identify the most relevant exposure metric. On the other hand, this also implies that several metrics of shift-long exposure to SMF and TVMF should perform similarly in epidemiological studies on MRI-related vertigo.

Fonte:

http://oem.bmj.com/content/early/2015/11/11/oemed-2015-103019.abstract