WEBVTT - How MRIs Work 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:08.920 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:17.800 tech Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 0:00:17.880 --> 0:00:20.759 welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poett and 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:22.480 I am an editor at how stuff works dot com. 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:26.320 Sitting across from me, as usual, is senior writer Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:31.160 I've been ionized, but I'm okay. Now, okay, let's move 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:39.560 on to a little listener mail. This listener mail comes 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:42.080 from Brad, and Brad says, how about a series of 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:45.640 podcasts that explain the technologies of medicine between the diagnostics 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:48.680 like m R I X ray, CT scans and nuclear 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:54.240 medicine to read habilitative therapies like ultrasound and electrical stimulations. 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:57.160 There are a lot of different possibilities. Well, Brad, we 0:00:57.200 --> 0:00:59.959 agree with you. Now, granted those are that's a lot 0:01:00.000 --> 0:01:02.800 of topics, so we can't really, we definitely cannot tackle 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:04.800 them all in one go because we would be here 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:07.640 for five hours and I am exhausted, So we are 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:09.720 going to just do one of those. However, it is 0:01:09.760 --> 0:01:12.759 one of the more technically difficult ones to talk about 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:15.920 in a way it's magnetic resonance imaging or m r I. 0:01:16.080 --> 0:01:18.240 S Yeah, you know, it's funny that you just said 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:22.520 five hours, because the very first m r I, which 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:26.360 was conducted on July third, seven, took about five hours. 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:30.480 That's right. It took almost five hours to get one image. 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:32.800 And what was weird was the image was of a 0:01:32.880 --> 0:01:38.720 man waving. No, that's that parts a lie. Well, the 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:43.560 that that image was from a graduate student because the 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:48.080 original um, well one hesitates to use the word victim, 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:52.000 but subject, The original subject of the first m r 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:54.600 I was supposed to be the fellow who was kind 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:58.000 of the driving force behind inventing the m r I machine, 0:01:59.280 --> 0:02:04.400 Raymond Domedian. Yes, now, Raymond was not able to be 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:07.600 the first subject of the first m r I because 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:11.240 he didn't fit. Yeah, he was. He had a little 0:02:11.280 --> 0:02:15.880 too much junk in the trunk. That's that's never mind. 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:18.400 Get in there, dude, My my trunk has got so 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:21.760 much junk in it. I'm just saying so, yeah, do 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:24.760 Median was not able to He was disappointed when he 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:26.880 first used his machine because it didn't work, and at 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:29.600 first he thought that perhaps all this work he had 0:02:29.639 --> 0:02:33.800 been putting into developing this device was for not and 0:02:33.840 --> 0:02:38.400 then someone suggested that perhaps a slightly thinner subject might 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:41.840 be better suited for the first test, and so one 0:02:41.880 --> 0:02:45.200 of the graduate students that was working with him stepped 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:47.760 up to the plate and said that they would take 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:50.160 the place. And indeed it worked. It did take about 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:55.040 five hours. Um, that's it's a long time to be 0:02:55.760 --> 0:02:59.720 in an MRI machine. Yes, and another just another trivia 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:02.720 act for those of you who like to play trivia games. 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:07.120 The very first machine was called the Indomitable. Yes. And 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:13.360 you can actually see the Indomitable Yes, it's at the Smithsonian. Yes. 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:17.880 So I wonder if the Abominable Snowman could be have 0:03:18.000 --> 0:03:20.120 an m r I in the in the Abdomitable. I 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:23.639 am almost certain that the Abominable Snowman has even more 0:03:23.720 --> 0:03:27.519 junk in the trunk than the median. Probably probably does. 0:03:27.840 --> 0:03:32.320 I'll ask my sister. She knows him. Okay, yeah, actually, no, 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:35.880 you're right, that's true. I'm not making it up. So so, yeah, 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:38.880 there there's a very small space in an m r 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:42.640 I machine. Um. And do you think we should mention 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:44.680 before we get into the technology behind it, what you 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:47.080 would use an m r I for sure? Sure? Why 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:51.880 don't you Why don't you illuminate? Okay, well, there there 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:53.880 are lots of different things that you can use an 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:55.640 m r I for. Now, what it does is it 0:03:55.680 --> 0:04:00.760 basically captures an image of your insides. Um. I was 0:04:00.760 --> 0:04:02.160 going to say sort of like an X ray, But 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:03.680 I don't really like an X ray at all, because 0:04:03.800 --> 0:04:06.400 X rays are really good for things like bone structure 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:09.600 and but damage to bones, whereas m r I s 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:13.360 are really good for soft tissue like organs. Yes, and Uh, 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:16.640 if you ever have the opportunity to see pictures that 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:18.880 have come from an m I, U might be worth 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:21.839 looking up online. But um, it's it's really fascinating. You 0:04:21.839 --> 0:04:25.479 could see a whole lot of detail. Um. And speaking 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:27.640 of of detail, I mean I could tell you a 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:29.560 little bit about that. I actually had an m r 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:31.799 I this year. We'll get into that in a minute. 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:36.679 But you can look for things like tumors for different 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:43.960 signs of disease, torn ligaments or damaged tendons. Um, just 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:48.560 irregularities and organs. Someone might have an enlarged heart or 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:52.599 things of that nature. You have damage to blood vessels. Uh, 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:58.200 you know, if you have anything wrong with your abdominal area. Um, 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:00.400 you know, you could you could look to see if 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:04.159 there's something that's uh that's available, and the technology is 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:06.560 is amazing to me. The things the report that I 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:08.320 got back from the doctor when it was all done, 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:11.400 it's going, how did you see as they sent the 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:14.039 entire thing? So I saw all the other stuff, the 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:17.080 um the person who did it catalog pretty much everything 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:19.680 was visible, even things that they weren't looking for. So 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:24.400 it was going, that's a little creepy, yeah, but it's amazing. 0:05:24.720 --> 0:05:27.080 You think the back scatter X ray machines at the 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:33.000 airport are are really detail oriented. Well. Also, I found 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:35.880 the key to my back door. It was it was, 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:37.960 it was inside there all the time, and I wondered 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:41.719 what happened to it? Apparently it fell in my burrito. Okay, 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:44.479 I was wondering if that was a euphemism. Now, actually, 0:05:44.720 --> 0:05:47.560 actually we'll get into this. If there had been a key, 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:50.320 that would have been extremely bad. All right, Yeah, so 0:05:50.360 --> 0:05:51.960 let's let's talk a little bit about m ris of 0:05:52.120 --> 0:05:55.000 why they are important. Besides the fact that they look 0:05:55.040 --> 0:05:58.800 at your squishy bits as opposed to your skeletal system 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:01.880 like all the uh, your lungs and liver and all 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:04.240 that kind of stuff that they're really good for that. Um, 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:07.320 it's a scientific term squishy bits. Yeah, well I'm not 0:06:07.440 --> 0:06:13.880 I'm no adicition. Um, I don't have my my discinal degree. Uh. 0:06:14.040 --> 0:06:18.040 The it's it's non invasive, so that means it doesn't 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:20.839 there's no there's no incisions that have to be made. 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:25.680 And also unlike X rays, it is uh, it's not 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:31.760 an ionizing form of radiation. Right now, X rays are uh, 0:06:31.920 --> 0:06:35.000 that is a form of ionizing radiation, which means that 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:38.240 when the X rays hits you, they can create ions, 0:06:38.320 --> 0:06:41.040 which you know, it's essentially it's stripping electrons away from 0:06:41.080 --> 0:06:46.400 from atoms and this can cause cells to be damaged. 0:06:46.440 --> 0:06:49.159 It can cause mutations, which is why you hear about 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:51.599 you know, it's it's it's why anyone who works in 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:57.400 an X ray laboratory laboratory, I could hear it. I 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:00.720 don't know why that has every now and then I oratory. 0:07:00.839 --> 0:07:03.640 My schedule has me in the laboratory this afternoon. They 0:07:03.920 --> 0:07:06.600 but anyone who works in one of those they they 0:07:06.680 --> 0:07:11.400 usually have to be behind like a protective barrier for 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:15.040 whenever they're running the machines. It's why when you get 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:16.680 an X ray done of your teeth. You may have 0:07:16.720 --> 0:07:20.920 to wear out like the lead apron because too much 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:24.680 exposure to too too many X rays can cause damage. Well, 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:27.400 m r I s do not use that kind of radiation. 0:07:27.680 --> 0:07:30.440 There is radiation that's involved, but it's not that it's 0:07:30.440 --> 0:07:35.080 not that ionizing radiation. So it's there's no real damage, um, 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:39.040 that that could happen on that on that in that way. 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:41.240 There are ways to get damaged getting an m r I, 0:07:41.320 --> 0:07:44.960 and you alluded to one of them earlier. So, um, 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:48.440 what exactly is going on here? The m r I. 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:52.720 We said that that stands for magnetic resonance imaging. That magnetic, 0:07:52.760 --> 0:07:56.000 of course, is the really big part of this. There's 0:07:56.040 --> 0:08:01.000 a an enormous magnet that is um uh generating a 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:06.440 very powerful magnetic field. Yes, extremely powerful. In fact, um uh. 0:08:06.520 --> 0:08:10.360 They measure the field in in tesla, not in gaus, 0:08:10.440 --> 0:08:14.520 which is typical of measuring magnetic fields, right right, gals 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:18.800 is a is a unit that's much smaller than a tesla. Yeah. 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:21.440 As a matter of fact, a tesla is equal to 0:08:21.680 --> 0:08:26.240 ten thousand cows and uh typical m r I machine. Um. 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:29.480 By the way, it's a very excellent article on this website. 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.480 That you mentioned earlier, right, how stuff works dot com. Yeah, yeah, 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:34.360 there is a great article on our m R I 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:38.600 machines on there. But according to that article, um, we 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:41.199 do uh there there is an field of about to 0:08:41.480 --> 0:08:45.080 tesla going on. So that's twenty thousand gaus if you 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:48.880 are inside the machine and um, and it is a 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:51.640 long machine. It's long enough to uh you know, stick 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:55.440 a whole human in there. Um. But yeah, so it's 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:58.719 it's got very very powerful magnets in their most frequently 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:03.840 their permanent magnets. Yeah, superconduction magnets. There are some that 0:09:03.880 --> 0:09:07.920 do use permanent magnets, you're right, but the majority superconduct Now, 0:09:08.240 --> 0:09:11.800 a superconductor is an interesting thing. They in order to 0:09:11.840 --> 0:09:14.800 get a it's essentially a electro magnet. But to really 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:18.720 reach superconductivity, they have to lower the resistance within the 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:21.360 wires that create the magnetic field. Now if you I'm 0:09:21.400 --> 0:09:24.040 sure you all remember, but an electro magnet is essentially 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:26.319 a coil of wire. You run an electric current through 0:09:26.320 --> 0:09:29.319 this coil of wire and that generates a magnetic field. Well, 0:09:30.000 --> 0:09:33.400 all wires have a certain amount of resistance. It's dependent 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.000 upon the material of the wire and the gauge of 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:40.880 the wire and resistance just that that that's going to 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:44.199 inhibit the strength of the magnetic field. So to lower 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:48.880 the resistance, you actually lower the temperature. And with superconductive 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:53.720 magnets you do this using liquid helium, which is incredibly cold. 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:55.559 This is the same stuff they used to cool the 0:09:55.640 --> 0:10:01.760 Large Hadron Collider at CERN. That's point four degrees below 0:10:02.280 --> 0:10:05.360 zero if you're talking fahrenheit, or about to sixty nine 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:09.200 point one below zero celsius, or as I call it 0:10:09.240 --> 0:10:13.600 on my scale, really really really really cold. Yeah, you're 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:18.640 approaching absolute zero zero kelvin and um and of course 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:22.040 zero kelvin absolute zero. What that means is you've reached 0:10:22.080 --> 0:10:26.720 a point where there is no molecular movement. So really, 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:29.680 when you think about temperature in a way, you're talking 0:10:29.720 --> 0:10:33.320 about how fast molecules move. That's that's kind of a 0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:36.439 way of thinking about it, right. Well, so this this way, 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:38.960 you're reducing the movement of those molecules as much as possible. 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:40.880 You run the electric current through it generates a very 0:10:40.960 --> 0:10:45.160 powerful magnetic field. Now why do you create this magnetic field? Well, 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:48.480 to do to really understand that, you have to understand 0:10:48.520 --> 0:10:53.120 that the the whole basis of m R I is 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:58.160 uh is on the principles of nuclear magnetic resonance. Now, 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:00.160 first of all, when you hear the word nuclear, you 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:03.760 start to freak out right because you know, yeah, well 0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:06.719 it's nuclear power plants, nuclear bombs. You think about these 0:11:06.720 --> 0:11:11.280 things that are potentially really powerful and devastatingly dangerous. But 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:15.640 really it just means that it we're dealing with nuclei here, yes, 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:20.720 the nucleus of an atom, and we're talking specifically about hydrogen. 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:25.120 Hydrogen nucleus is a proton. You've got a proton an 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:28.760 electron that's hydrogen, so you're nucleus is just proton. Now. 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:35.160 Nuclear magnetic resonance is a spectroscopic technique that gets information 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:38.000 about chemical and physical properties of a material at the 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:41.920 microscopic level. And it was developed it was actually discovered 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:47.239 by Felix Block and Edward Purcell at the same time, independently. 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:51.479 In why is it always? It seems like big advances 0:11:51.520 --> 0:11:54.040 in science are always there are always two people that 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:56.760 figured out about the same time. I don't know. It 0:11:57.080 --> 0:11:59.199 is pretty interesting when you sit there and you think, well, 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:05.360 you know what driving forces inspired two people in different 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:07.720 parts of the world to study the same thing and 0:12:07.760 --> 0:12:10.360 come to the same conclusion. Now, what I would argue 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:14.680 is that that shows that science is good, because it 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:17.120 means that if you follow the scientific method, you will 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:21.880 reach the proper conclusion in time. Alright, then, so I 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:24.520 figured there was some kind of bond between them. Science 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:26.880 as good as the alternative title of this episode of 0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:30.200 tech stuff. Um. So, at any rate, they both actually 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:34.760 were awarded the Nobel Prize in ninety two. Domedian did 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:37.959 who invented the m R A machine, did not win 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:42.560 the Nobel Prize. But at any rate, you've got this 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:46.720 this principle, and the principle essentially essentially states that there's 0:12:46.760 --> 0:12:55.520 this feature of of atoms called spines nuclear spin. Um. 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:59.200 It's a little interesting and a little difficult to explain, 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:03.200 but but atoms are spinning in a particular direction all right, 0:13:03.880 --> 0:13:07.640 independently of other materials. But if you introduce a magnetic 0:13:07.679 --> 0:13:12.080 field that's strong enough to the to the atoms, their 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:16.199 spin will align with that magnetic field. So it's kind 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:18.600 of like when you think of iron filings and a magnet. 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:21.280 If you have the magnet in a certain way, the 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:24.559 iron filings will actually start to align themselves in the 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:28.640 in the same direction as the magnetic field around that magnet. 0:13:30.320 --> 0:13:34.240 So first you create this magnetic field, a powerful magnetic 0:13:34.240 --> 0:13:37.600 field that's using the superconductor magnet, and you start to 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:43.080 align these proton uh well, I'm starty, not just protons, 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:47.000 but these hydrogen nuclei in the proper alignment. Then you 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:52.600 use a radio frequency that's a tune specifically to those nuclei, 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:56.520 and you hit the nuclei with a frequency. When you 0:13:56.559 --> 0:13:59.080 do that, you excite some of the nuclei to a 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:03.560 higher state uh of energy. And then when you stop, 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:07.000 when you remove that radio frequency, the nuclear returned to 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:11.000 their relaxed state. They go back to what they were 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:14.760 doing before, right. And by measuring this different difference, you 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:17.000 can you can sort of see you know where the 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:20.880 protons are, where the nuclear are, But you have to 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:22.480 you have to get a little more specific than that. 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:24.920 If you were just using the superconductor magnet and just 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:28.360 using radio frequency, you would know that there were protons there, 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:30.360 but you wouldn't really have a map, you wouldn't have 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:32.120 an image that you could look at. It would just 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:35.320 tell you that there were nuclei there. So what you 0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:37.480 have to do is you have to actually add more 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:42.080 magnets to the mix and create a gradiated magnetic field. 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:47.520 So this this gradation, this variable magnetic field, gives you 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:52.400 more information and you can actually map out what the 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:56.640 the inside of something looks like based upon the position 0:14:56.680 --> 0:15:02.040 of hydrogen uh atoms just through blasting it with radio 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:06.240 frequencies and putting this magnetic field around them. It's it's 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:09.200 pretty interesting stuff. And it's a little complicated. Um, actually 0:15:09.240 --> 0:15:14.440 it's a lot complicated. But because we're talking about really 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:17.280 we're talking about nuclear physics when we get down to it, 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:20.720 and um, of course, when you ever you talk about magnetism, 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:23.840 eventually you get to a point where I'm just like, Okay, 0:15:23.880 --> 0:15:28.320 we're well beyond what I can easily explain. Nonetheless, they 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:31.920 really like magnets, and you know what a super cool 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:35.760 but um, and they're actually uh, I believe there are 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:39.760 actually three gradient magnets in an MR machine. Um, and 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:42.280 they're not as powerful as the superconductor magnet, but they 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:48.200 don't need to be right. Um, But let's see the 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:50.360 U the tunnel. There's basically it's if you think about 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:52.240 it, it it kind of looks like a donut on a stand, 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:56.000 a very long donut, and you the the hole. In 0:15:56.040 --> 0:15:59.120 this case, it is called the bore b o r E. Yes, 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:03.520 I also get that term when I go to parties, 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:06.560 but we won't go there now, or sometimes when our 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:10.760 podcast goes long. But what happens when you go to 0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:13.920 UH to sit in for an m R I uh 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:18.240 you are asked to basically leave everything behind. You don't 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:21.440 wear your clothes. You have to you know, strip down 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:23.840 and wear a hospital gown. They ask you things like, 0:16:24.240 --> 0:16:27.360 you know, do you have any metal in your body right? 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:31.000 Any screws or metal plates or if you have like 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:34.720 a pacemaker, anything like that could be um, well, that 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:38.160 would definitely be a problem, yes, because what what can 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:41.440 happen during the m R I process is depending on 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:46.640 the kind of metal that maybe inside, say it's a screw, um, uh, 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:50.760 steel screw it would it could heat up and because 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:55.960 internal burns, which are bad. Yeah, and you can't have 0:16:56.000 --> 0:16:58.880 any metal in the room because it's gonna fly right 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:01.720 at that MR machine once you turn it on. That 0:17:02.080 --> 0:17:04.640 would be fun. No, it's not fun. No, I mean 0:17:05.400 --> 0:17:08.960 that was sarcasm um and it's sadly it is. It 0:17:09.000 --> 0:17:12.919 has actually contributed well, it's contributed to a few pretty 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:17.880 well publicized accidents in in m R I labs um, 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:19.960 including I almost did again, Yeah, and you almost spit 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:23.800 coffee all over me. Um. So I don't know what 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:28.680 do with laboratory aluminium. Yes, aluminium, I think is you're 0:17:28.720 --> 0:17:31.359 you're pretty safe. It's not magnetics. And I have I 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:34.600 have actually some some titanium inside and I was kind 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:37.400 of wondering about that. What's your key was made out of? Yeah, 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:42.119 yes it is. No, I had, uh yeah, some clips 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:45.200 from a previous surgery. You know. It's kind of concerned 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:46.960 because I knew they were made of metal and they said, no, no, 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:49.639 that's titanium. You're fine. No, I honestly did not know this. 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:53.159 But apparently Mr Palette is the bionic man. Well you 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.280 know that sixty million dollars doesn't buy what it used to. 0:17:57.160 --> 0:18:00.359 This is this is becoming all that more more and 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:05.120 more apparent. Actually was six million, it wasn't sixty adjusting 0:18:05.119 --> 0:18:10.000 for inflation. That's fair enough. But yeah, so they what 0:18:10.040 --> 0:18:12.440 they do is they have you lie down on this um. 0:18:12.480 --> 0:18:14.600 It's sort of like a long like you might see 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:18.440 a gurney, except it's attached to the machine. You lie 0:18:18.480 --> 0:18:21.960 down and they there are motors attached to the underside 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:25.440 of that and they when you are comfortably lying back 0:18:25.480 --> 0:18:29.120 on this device, they uh, the motors wheel you in 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:32.640 and they don't necessarily have to put your entire body 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:35.639 in the machine, which is good for people who are claustrophobic. Right, 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:38.760 they don't have to look at your head. It's probably 0:18:38.800 --> 0:18:41.280 better not to just you can actually go in feat 0:18:41.320 --> 0:18:44.040 first if if that's the case, I mean, um, and 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:46.919 there are there are times where people have been sedated 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:49.520 to uh in order to calm down enough to be 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:51.880 able to go through an m r I. But that's 0:18:51.880 --> 0:18:54.960 tricky too because one of the other parts about getting 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:56.359 an m r I done is you have to stay 0:18:56.560 --> 0:19:00.600 very very still. That is the truth, because if you 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:02.840 move at all, then you're going to distort the image 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:05.800 because you're going to change the position of those those 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:08.840 nuclei everything that happens to be inside you. By the way, 0:19:09.080 --> 0:19:11.080 in case you're wondering, we happen to have a lot 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:13.840 of hydrogen in our bodies. Um, it's stored mostly in 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:17.160 water and fat. But uh, one figure I read said 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:22.919 that about oh of us is hydrogen, so uh, you 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:25.680 know it's it's measuring where that is that we can 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:29.680 make the the images to to show what's happening. So yeah, 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:32.840 when you go in and uh the magnet kicks on 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:39.159 and the radio frequency starts to blast you, what's that like? Um? Well, 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:41.800 one of the things that I have to say that 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:45.000 the technician who administered the m R I that that 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:49.080 I had earlier this year was very very patient. Um, 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:51.640 and although I'm not claustrophobic, I was a little concerned 0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:55.320 that I might uh feel a little uncomfortable being in 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:57.919 such a tight space. Uh. They did put me all 0:19:58.000 --> 0:20:01.560 the way inside the bore of the m R I machine. Um. 0:20:01.600 --> 0:20:04.040 But one nice thing that they did, Uh they gave 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:08.119 me a set of headphones and uh they had you know, 0:20:08.240 --> 0:20:10.399 gave me a variety of music to choose from, and 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:13.040 I picked a station that I thought would be calming. 0:20:13.200 --> 0:20:15.920 Did you choose the Magnetic Fields Book of Love? No? 0:20:16.040 --> 0:20:18.480 I did not, but that is an excellent a series 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:24.480 of records. Um. But uh no, that's funny. I'm sorry, 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:27.760 I'm just kind of funny. Um. But that and they 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:31.280 put a towel over my eyes, you know, and had 0:20:31.280 --> 0:20:33.359 me lay back, and uh, they can actually talk to 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:35.679 you from the booth so that you know, what are 0:20:35.680 --> 0:20:38.600 you doing now? You are you feeling okay? Um? You know, 0:20:38.600 --> 0:20:43.159 are you concerned? Um? What they didn't tell me was 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:45.760 it makes a whole lot of noise. And I didn't 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:48.680 read this article, uh, nor do any other research before 0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:52.199 I went in. Uh so when this sounds, and I 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:54.720 didn't hear a loud knocking, so this isn't uh you know, 0:20:54.760 --> 0:20:57.600 I've heard that some machines there is a loud knocking noise. 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:00.960 Now I did not hear that. I heard sounded like 0:21:01.000 --> 0:21:03.760 a warning class in from a nineteen seventy two science 0:21:03.800 --> 0:21:07.280 fiction movie. And I'm going, well, either the bombing has 0:21:07.359 --> 0:21:12.440 started and they're leaving me here to die, or this 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:15.480 is normal. Yeah, either the m I R I is 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:18.600 going as planned, or the Klingons have have materialized off 0:21:18.600 --> 0:21:21.159 the starboard bell exactly. I'm not kidding. It was me, 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:25.960 and I'm going interesting, I assume that this is part 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:27.600 of the normal functioning of the machine. And as it 0:21:27.600 --> 0:21:32.520 turned out, the Klingons left the hospital pretty much, uh 0:21:32.760 --> 0:21:35.720 you know, untouched. So that's good, that's good. But yeah, 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:38.200 it's it's a little it's a little disconcerting. But I 0:21:38.240 --> 0:21:42.080 didn't really I didn't really feel a lot, now, you 0:21:42.119 --> 0:21:44.560 know they that was up until that was probably the 0:21:44.600 --> 0:21:46.239 two thirds of the way through the m r I. 0:21:46.320 --> 0:21:48.439 And then they stopped and came in the room and 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:51.520 had to move my body back out of the bore 0:21:51.600 --> 0:21:53.920 of the m r I. And I'm sure you probably 0:21:53.960 --> 0:21:56.800 know why that is. We got to the next phase 0:21:56.880 --> 0:22:00.119 of the m r I process because the m or 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:03.680 I can only do so much by itself. At one 0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:06.440 point they ask you if you're willing to be injected 0:22:06.480 --> 0:22:10.520 with a die, yes, a contrast die. Yes. The thing 0:22:10.640 --> 0:22:14.119 is it's it's from what I understand, it's radioactive and 0:22:14.359 --> 0:22:17.920 can cause some problems. Some people can have an allergic 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:20.399 reaction to it. That is one of the dangers of 0:22:20.440 --> 0:22:22.000 the m r I is that you can you can 0:22:22.000 --> 0:22:25.280 actually suffer an allergic reaction to the contrast material. Yea, 0:22:25.359 --> 0:22:28.080 they gave me a nice long form to sign saying 0:22:28.520 --> 0:22:30.800 you really won't be angry at us if we kill you, right, 0:22:31.960 --> 0:22:37.000 I'm kidding. It was yes, and they were They explained 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:39.000 it in great details. So they were very many nice people. 0:22:39.000 --> 0:22:41.600 But um, but it's funnier to see it the other way. 0:22:41.800 --> 0:22:44.480 But yeah, and so they injected me with a die, 0:22:44.560 --> 0:22:48.600 which felt very weird and uh kind of kind of 0:22:48.600 --> 0:22:52.120 a cold feeling. Actually, yeah, I've I've had I've had 0:22:52.200 --> 0:22:57.520 various dyes injected into me, both on purpose and on accident. Hey, 0:22:57.600 --> 0:22:59.200 let's see if we can turn the more in. She's 0:22:59.240 --> 0:23:04.199 a weird your college experience. Anyway, Then they put me 0:23:04.240 --> 0:23:07.560 back inside the machine and ran the machine for another 0:23:07.680 --> 0:23:10.480 fifteen minutes. The whole thing for me only took probably 0:23:10.520 --> 0:23:14.560 about an hour. Yeah, the they tend to be between 0:23:14.560 --> 0:23:16.560 fifteen and forty five minutes, but some can be a 0:23:16.600 --> 0:23:18.840 little longer. It all depends on the equipment, the technician, 0:23:18.840 --> 0:23:21.359 and exactly why you need to have the the m 0:23:21.440 --> 0:23:22.920 r I done because you know, if it's just one 0:23:22.960 --> 0:23:25.080 where you have to scan one little part of your body, 0:23:25.520 --> 0:23:27.439 then obviously that's not gonna take as long as if 0:23:27.440 --> 0:23:30.440