According to the article, there was an earlier reported case in Brazil which was fatal to the person carrying the weapon, who was not the patient.
A man in Brazil recently passed away of the injuries he sustained in an MRI suite when the magnet’s powerful pull caused his gun to involuntarily discharge and shoot him in the abdomen. After news of the event began to circulate, many questioned how such an accident could occur in an MRI suite in the first place.
Between screenings with MRI techs prior to exams, contraindication questionnaires and multiple warning signs prohibiting the presence of metal near the scanner, how did a loaded gun make its way into an MRI suite?
It is important to note that man involved in the accident was not a patient, but was instead assisting his mother, who was the patient. It also merits noting that the facility where the accident occurred followed safety precautions and screened both the man and his mother for the presence of metal, receiving signatures from both assuring that they understood the dangers of having metal within the magnet’s reach.
The danger of having metallic objects in the vicinity of an MRI magnet, which can have a magnetic field of 3 Tesla or more are well known.
There is also the issue of metal objects turning into projectiles in the suite. There have been several incidents throughout the years in which these projectiles have resulted in serious injury and even death. This is why facilities have restrictions on medical equipment like oxygen tanks, stretchers and wheelchairs in the exam room. MRI magnets are powerful enough to velocitize a steel oxygen tank and send it through a cinderblock wall.
My guess would be that the metallic parts of a striker fired gun, if magnetic, could be pulled by the strong magnetic field sufficiently to cause a discharge, especially in a gun with a polymer frame that did not shield the firing assembly from external magnetic fields. Another possibility is that heating from the magnetic field caused the primer to “cook off”. Heating due to the MRI fields is also a known phenomenon.
But what about less intimidating things like athletic shorts and yoga pants? At first glance, these items seem MRI-friendly, but some could contain metallic threading, which could heat up and burn patients during their scans.
Burns actually are the most common injury that occurs during MR imaging. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, between 2008 and 2017, such burns accounted for 59% of MRI safety events.
