Health - Resources and discussion for everything health-related

2314 readers

368 users here now

Health: physical and mental, individual and public.

Discussions, issues, resources, news, everything.

See the pinned post for a long list of other communities dedicated to health or specific diagnoses. The list is continuously updated.

Nothing here shall be taken as medical or any other kind of professional advice.

Commercial advertising is considered spam and not allowed. If you're not sure, contact mods to ask beforehand.

Linked videos without original description context by OP to initiate healthy, constructive discussions will be removed.

Regular rules of lemmy.world apply. Be civil.

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

WhoRoger@lemmy.world

RoyalEngineering@lemmy.world

Awa@lemmy.world

Philips recalls 340 MRI machines because they may explode in an emergency (www.theregister.com)

submitted 10 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/health@lemmy.world

7 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Philips is recalling hundreds of MRI machines around the globe over concerns the medical imaging equipment could explode during normal operation — something a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) bulletin states has already happened once before.

The "class one" recall — the most serious type — was published by the FDA online this week, and warns owners of Philips Panorama 1.0T HFO magnetic resonance imagers to discontinue use of the machines until a service technician is able to make corrective repairs.

Sold between 2001 and 2016, the machines are employed broadly by medical facilities around the world to image the inside of patients' bodies. Today, 150 Panorama 1.0T HFO machines are operating in the United States, and there are reportedly 340 globally.

The recall was issued after it was determined that during a "quench" — when the magnet coils are no longer at near-absolute zero and lose their superconductivity – the helium gas that's supposed to super-cool the coils evaporates and could cause the device to rupture.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] 18107@aussie.zone 15 points 10 months ago (3 children)

May explode in an emergency

Could explode during normal operation

Which one is it? Should I have an emergency or not?

[–] acceptable_pumpkin@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Don’t worry. You can tell if it’s one of the faulty machines about to explode if it starts to make weird buzzing and clicking sounds.

[–] Timecircleline@sh.itjust.works 6 points 10 months ago

That's mean.

[–] brianorca@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

An "emergency quench" is when they need to shut down the magnet in a hurry, such as if someone foolishly brought metal into the room and it's pinning the patient to the machine. This happens with metal gurneys, chairs, and even guns, more often than it should.

The problem here is that as the helium is warming up, very quickly, it could rupture the machine rather than escaping through a valve, causing additional danger to someone who is trapped in the machine and already in danger.

Since the magnet normally needs several days to properly shut down or start up, the emergency quench is the only way to save someone who is endangered by the strong magnetic field, but it can also damage the machine to shut it down that quickly. (Even when it doesn't explode)

[–] LostXOR@kbin.social 6 points 10 months ago

It could explode at any time!