Anesthesiology Calls for MRI Safety, Mednovus Products to Help
A new Practice Advisory on anesthesia safety by the American Society of Anesthesiologists has just been published in the journal, Anesthesiology. Among the primary findings is a call for effective screening of patients and equipment, an objective simplified with Mednovus ferromagnetic detection systems.
Leucadia, CA, March 04, 2009 --(PR.com)-- The March, 2009 issue of Anesthesiology, the journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, contains a Practice Advisory on anesthesia care in the MRI environment. The stated objectives of the Advisory are:
* To promote patient and staff safety in the MRI environment
* To prevent the occurrence of MRI-associated accidents
* To promote optimal patient management and reduce adverse patient outcomes associated with MRI
* To identify potential equipment-related hazards in the MRI environment
* To identify limitations of physiologic monitoring capabilities in the MRI environment, and
* To identify potential health hazards of the MRI environment.
Among the findings of the Advisory is a call for effective screening for patients, equipment and supporting personnel. Though the anesthesia risks in the MRI environment are multivalent, one of the chief hazards is the introduction of ferromagnetic / projectile hazards, or materials and devices not intended for use in the high magnetic field environment typical around an MRI scanner.
"There is a lot of rigor behind the ASA Advisory," says Tobias Gilk, President and MRI Safety Director for Mednovus, "and it supports existing standards and best practices. One such standard is the ACR's Guidance Document for Safe MR Practices which, in order to improve screening, calls for the use of ferromagnetic detection systems, such as the Mednovus products."
Beyond supporting existing industry standards such as the ACR's Guidance Document and the Joint Commission's MRI Sentinel Event Alert (now referenced in the Environment of Care standards), the ASA Advisory formally introduces level designations based upon the level of care / sedation provided concurrent with the MRI examination.
"This is very significant," offers Gilk. "Clinical practice in the MRI suite has changed dramatically in the last decade and the ASA is the first body to help to concretely differentiate the levels of care to begin to define appropriate safety and infrastructural provisions. Some protections, such as the Mednovus ferromagnetic screening instruments, should be common to all MRI providers. Others, such as surgical gas services, should be requisite at the highest level of interventional imaging."
Though Practice Advisories are not equivalent to ASA standards, they are used to communicate critical safety information more rapidly than is typically possible in the formal standards-adoption process.
For the full text of the ASA's Practice Advisory on Anesthetic Care for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, see the Anesthesia journal website:
http://journals.lww.com/anesthesiology/Fulltext/2009/03000/Practice_Advisory_on_Anesthetic_Care_for_Magnetic.9.aspx
For information on the full line of Mednovus ferromagnetic detection MRI pre-screening systems, see the Mednovus website:
http://www.mednovus.com/products.html
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* To promote patient and staff safety in the MRI environment
* To prevent the occurrence of MRI-associated accidents
* To promote optimal patient management and reduce adverse patient outcomes associated with MRI
* To identify potential equipment-related hazards in the MRI environment
* To identify limitations of physiologic monitoring capabilities in the MRI environment, and
* To identify potential health hazards of the MRI environment.
Among the findings of the Advisory is a call for effective screening for patients, equipment and supporting personnel. Though the anesthesia risks in the MRI environment are multivalent, one of the chief hazards is the introduction of ferromagnetic / projectile hazards, or materials and devices not intended for use in the high magnetic field environment typical around an MRI scanner.
"There is a lot of rigor behind the ASA Advisory," says Tobias Gilk, President and MRI Safety Director for Mednovus, "and it supports existing standards and best practices. One such standard is the ACR's Guidance Document for Safe MR Practices which, in order to improve screening, calls for the use of ferromagnetic detection systems, such as the Mednovus products."
Beyond supporting existing industry standards such as the ACR's Guidance Document and the Joint Commission's MRI Sentinel Event Alert (now referenced in the Environment of Care standards), the ASA Advisory formally introduces level designations based upon the level of care / sedation provided concurrent with the MRI examination.
"This is very significant," offers Gilk. "Clinical practice in the MRI suite has changed dramatically in the last decade and the ASA is the first body to help to concretely differentiate the levels of care to begin to define appropriate safety and infrastructural provisions. Some protections, such as the Mednovus ferromagnetic screening instruments, should be common to all MRI providers. Others, such as surgical gas services, should be requisite at the highest level of interventional imaging."
Though Practice Advisories are not equivalent to ASA standards, they are used to communicate critical safety information more rapidly than is typically possible in the formal standards-adoption process.
For the full text of the ASA's Practice Advisory on Anesthetic Care for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, see the Anesthesia journal website:
http://journals.lww.com/anesthesiology/Fulltext/2009/03000/Practice_Advisory_on_Anesthetic_Care_for_Magnetic.9.aspx
For information on the full line of Mednovus ferromagnetic detection MRI pre-screening systems, see the Mednovus website:
http://www.mednovus.com/products.html
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Mednovus, Inc.
Tobias Gilk
800.788.0617
www.Mednovus.com
Tobias Gilk
800.788.0617
www.Mednovus.com
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