DOOR ASSEMBLY FOR AN MRI ROOM

• US 20160306062A1
• Filed: 11/13/2014
• Published: 10/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Metrasens Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Metrasens Incorporated
• Inventors: Goodyear, Simon Wray, Keene, Mark Nicholas
• Granted Patent: US 10,191,176 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/288 Provisions within MR facilities for enhancing safety during MR, e.g. reduction of the specific absorption rate [SAR], detection of ferromagnetic objects in the scanner room
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 11/00 Prospecting or detecting by methods combining techniques covered by two or more of main groups G01V1/00 - G01V9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 3/08 operating with magnetic or electric fields produced or modified by objects or geological structures or by detecting devices with electromagnetic waves G01V3/12

Abstract

An MRI room door assembly (100) for use in protecting an entrance to a room containing an MRI scanner system. The assembly (100) comprising a doorframe (102) that is suitable to be fixed in position within or around an opening to the room, a door (103) that is fixed to the doorframe (102), and an sealing arrangement (105, 106, 107, 8) that seals the door (103) to the frame (102) when it is at rest in the closed position and which is released as a user initiates an opening of the door (103). At least one or more of the door (103) and the doorframe (102) include a built in safety system which provides a function relating to preventing ferrous objects being brought unintentionally close to the MRI scanner system.

Claims

1. An MRI room door assembly for use in protecting an entrance to a room containing an MRI scanner system, the assembly comprising a doorframe that is suitable of being fixed in position within or around an opening to the room, a door that is fixed to the doorframe, and a sealing arrangement that seals the door to the frame when it is at rest in the closed position and which is released as a user initiates an opening of the door, in which at least one or more of the door and the doorframe include a built in safety system which provides a function relating to preventing ferrous objects being brought unintentionally close to the MRI machine.

2. An MRI room door assembly according to claim 1 in which the safety system is built into the door assembly prior to installation of the door assembly at an MRI room.

3. An MRI room door assembly according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which the safety system comprises a ferromagnetic detection system (FMDS) arranged in use to warn a person approaching the door with a ferromagnetic object that they should not enter the room through the door with the object.

4. An MRI room door assembly according to claim 3 in which the FMDS comprises:

a primary sensor means comprising at least one passive magnetic sensor means which detects the disturbances in the ambient magnetic field which occur as the object moves through the field;

a secondary non-magnetic sensor means which detects movement of objects in the vicinity of the primary sensor means; and

a processing circuit which is arranged to monitor the signals from the sensors and to provide an alarm in the event that both the primary and secondary sensor means detect a moving object.

5. An MRI room door assembly according to claim 4 in which the secondary non-magnetic sensor means comprises a photo-detector which is fitted to the outside of the door assembly, the system also including a light source fitted to the outside of the door assembly and a reflector provided on the inside of the door assembly, the photo-detector receiving a light beam from the source that has passed through the door opening when the door is open and is reflected back onto the photo-detector from the reflector, the FMDS system further comprising

a door position determining means which determines when the door has opened sufficiently far to have cleared the light beam.

6. An MRI room door assembly according to claim 4 in which the FMDS comprises:

a door position determining means which is adapted to monitor the angular position of the door relative to a door of the entrance, and

and further comprising a memory which in use stores historical temporal variations in the measurement signal due to movement of a ferromagnetic object within the ambient field, and correlation means which is adapted to correlate the stored historical temporal variations in the measurement signal prior to the door moving with incidences in which the non-magnetic sensing means detects the presence of an object in its detection zone, and in which the apparatus is arranged to cause the warning device to raise an alarm in the event that the correlation, albeit separated in time, is indicative of the presence of a magnetic object in the vicinity of the magnetic sensor.

7. An MRI room door assembly according to claim 6 which the door position determining means further comprises a user operable release mechanism, such as a door handle, push button, or keypad and a release signal sensor that indicates that a user has operated the release mechanism, in which the FMDS receives the signal from the release mechanism sensor and uses the output from the release signal sensor to determine which historical data to use in the correlation.

8. An MRI room door assembly according to claim 4 in which the safety system comprises an FMDS comprising:

a door position determining means which is adapted to monitor the angular position of a door of the entrance, and

in which the signal processing circuit is adapted to modify the operation of the alarm in the event that output of the door position determining means indicates that the door is moving.

9. An MRI room door assembly according to claim 4 in which the signal processing circuit is configured to identify temporal variations in the measurement signal due to the movement of a ferromagnetic object within the ambient magnetic field and to correlate the identified temporal variations in the measurement signal with instances in which the non-magnetic sensor means detects the presence of an object in its detection zone, and in which the signal processing circuit is arranged to cause the warning device to operate in the event that the correlation is indicative of the presence of a ferromagnetic object in the primary detection zone,

and further in which the signal processing circuit is adapted to determine the direction from which an object is approaching the doorway from the output signals from the non-magnetic sensor means and to modify the operation of the alarm dependent on the direction of approach.

10. An MRI room door assembly according to claim 4 in which the safety system comprises an FMDS comprising:

identification means for identifying a person or object approaching the door,

the signal processing circuit being configured to identify temporal variations in the measurement signal due to the movement of a ferromagnetic object within the ambient magnetic field and to correlate the identified temporal variations in the measurement signal with instances in which the non-magnetic sensor means detects the presence of an object in its detection zone, and in which the signal processing circuit is arranged to cause the alarm to operate in the event that the correlation is indicative of the presence of a ferromagnetic object in the primary detection zone but to modify the operation of the alarm according to the identity of a person or object identified by the identification means.

11. An MRI room door assembly according to any one of claims 3 to 10 in which the safety system comprises an FMDS that is operable in a pre-screener mode, the FMDS including means for raising the sensitivity of the primary sensing means when in the pre-screener mode to permit patient screening and lowering it when in the entryway protection mode.

12. An MRI room door assembly according to claim 11 in which the safety system is arranged so that the pre-screener mode can only be activated with the door closed.

13. An MRI room door assembly according to any preceding claim in which the safety system comprises a barrier which is fixed at one end to the door frame and the other end of which can be moved to a position in which it obscures at least partially the entrance to prevent entrance or egress from the MRI room.

14. An MRI room door assembly according to claim 13 in which the barrier is an automatic arm, a non-magnetic chain, a curtain or a pair of saloon-door type sprung barriers.

15. An MRI room door assembly that includes a safety system substantially as described herein with reference to an as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.