MRI SITE PLANNING CHECKLIST

THE FOLLOWING LIST SUMMARIZES THE MOST IMPORTANT TOPICS TO BE CONSIDERED IN DESIGNATING AN MR IMAGING FACILITY. THE LIST OF FUNCTIONAL AREAS CAN BE USED AS THE BASIS FOR ESTIMATING THE AREA NECESSARY ONCE THE FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF A PARTICULAR SITE ARE KNOWN.

Primary MRI Areas  o Scan Room  o Control Room  o Computer Equipment Room (includes RF equipment and power supplies)  o Reading Room (include physician’s console)  o Cryogen Storage

Secondary MRI Areas  o Film Processing (if required)  o Quality Control and Service  o Patient Preparation, Recover and Emergency Procedure Area  o Patient Reception and Waiting Area  o Storage  o Washrooms  o Soiled Utility  o Clean Utility

Ancillary MRI Areas (These areas can be remote from the MRI or shared with other services)  o Administrative Area  o Conference Area  o Additional Storage  o Offices

Construction and Access Considerations  o Equipment transportation, unloading and installation access  o Floor loading  o Floor levelness  o Ceiling heights  o Access for cryogens  o Cryogen venting (normal and quench)  o Controlled access to facility and well controlled access to magnet room

Protecting Magnetic Field Homogeneity  o Location and amount of steel shielding  o Other structural iron and steel  o Large ferrous structures or objects  o Symmetrical location of ferrous structures  o Moving ferrous objects (elevators, lift trucks, vehicular traffic, etc.)

Protecting Surrounding Environment from Magnetic Fields  o A 3-D survey of magnetically sensitive devices and equipment  o Tolerable distances from the center of the magnet will depend on magnet field     strength and shielding design

Radiofrequency Shielding  o Design appropriate RF shielding based on a site survey according to the OEM     specifications  o Avoid light dimmers and fluorescent lighting ballasts within the magnet room

Facility Environment  o Electrical supplies (voltages, current and phases)  o Air conditioning (general area, computer room with temperature, humidity     and filtration)  o Water supply and floor drains (includes sink for phantom filling and draining)  o Chilled water supply (temperature, flow rate and tolerable temperature fluctuation)  o Personnel protection (establish controlled areas and metal detection routines  o Fire Detection and Safety (no sprinklers, non-ferrous extinguishers)  o Housekeeping (no ferrous cleaning tools or supplies)