Required to get in a gown for mri?

So I’ve had two MRI’s in my life. Each I was basically forced into a gown to do them. I asked why I couldn’t keep things on that didn’t have metal but the nurse got mad and annoyed and just said I needed the gown.

My socks were also taken off as I was laying on the table. Which was surprising!

I think I’m up to 6 or 7 MRIs in the last 3.5 years and I’ve always been allowed to stay in my clothes. I make sure to wear comfortable clothing with no metal and the medical staff at the imaging center are more than happy to accommodate.

@JAM0627 you’relucky. The place I go to has never let me. The nurse was pulling off my socks when I was about to go in. It was surprising but I couldn’t do anything.

Last year I got an MRI of my thoracic and cervical spine. They had me strip down to my underwear and socks for it and put on a gown. Apparently, even small amounts of metal can throw off the imaging equipment. You can even find silver and copper in socks and some underwear.

The gown I was given was a wrap around style so literally nothing but my sock covered feet were on display. That was good because I had to wait in an inner waiting area with others who were also waiting their turn.

Last year I needed to get an MRI for my back, and they asked me to remove everything except my underwear and socks and put on a gown.

Some material has metallic fibers in it so some labs are very cautious. Some labs are not so cautious. Same with sports bras for women. The last MRI I got they had me wear a one-size fits all paper shorts and tee shirt. Covered me with a warm blanket and put me in the tube! Those shorts could have been used by my kids for a tent when they were little!!! The one before they were fine with my Under Armor gym pants and shirt.

…. The last MRI I got they had me wear a one-size fits all paper shorts and tee shirt….

I have had a couple of MRIs on my knees….. the let me go into the tube with my tee shirt, but made me change into paper shorts…

The magnetic field in an MRI machine is EXTREMELY strong (roughly 60,000 times the Earth's field strength) and can attract anything even slightly magnetic, including things like surgical clips used in bowel polyp removal. The magnet could easily rip them out of your gut.

Rather than take any risk, many facilities insist that the patient wear only the provided gown and maybe shorts.

Sean I'm afraid you don't have your facts correct with regards to endoscopic clips . As someone who works in endoscopy , all endoscopic clips are MRI safe .

RN

Wearing anything at all in an MRI seems bizarre, I know plenty of places where the standard practice is just nude. The gown is just for on the way there. What are they going to do if you just forgot you had a pen in your pocket, or a metal aglet on a drawstring or something, and it shoots out and pokes a hole in you, and then in the extremely expensive machine? Charge you? Just eat the cost? Or they can simply make sure you go in with nothing you weren't born with, same as lots of procedures.

I think it might be more of an issue of metal infused clothing disrupting the magnetic field. Think of it as causing out of focus smudges when dust or fingerprints get on a camera lens. That’s just a guess though. I think that because fabrics like xtatic and cupron don’t have enough concentration in the fabric to cause it to fly off, even in a 3T system.

Sean I'm afraid you don't have your facts correct with regards to endoscopic clips . As someone who works in endoscopy , all endoscopic clips are MRI safe .

RN

Spetzler titanium clips are safe up to 4.3T. High res MRIs are 1.5 to 3T. Metal clips before them were not MRI safe. Don’t know for sure when titanium clips became standard, but we got some in 1999. Some older patients may still have metal clips. We had to prove we had the titanium clips for a recent MRI, so they don’t automatically assume you’re safe. If there’s any doubt, they won’t risk it.

@RN1993

When I last had an MRI, the technician specifically asked me about them and called the doctor who put them in to check.

Apparently the clips are supposed to fall off and be pood out w/in 6 months. They discussed doing an x-ray to check, but didn't.

@Sean We had to provide proof before they would even schedule the MRI. Ours are permanent aneurysm clips. Concern is that they might move slightly and be compromised during the MRI. A magnetically adjustable shunt can get reset during an MRI. It's happened to us twice if I remember correctly. We always get it checked the same day or day after an MRI by our neurosurgean to ensure it is operating correctly.

The nurse yanking off my socks while I was laying waiting to go into the machine was the best part! 😂

My bride had an MRI a few years ago and it was performed with her in her street clothes.

As an aside, if a nurse or any other medical practitioner became upset because I asked, “Why?" the exam/treatment would end right then until that person was replaced. A refusal to provide a reasonable answer is also grounds for demanding a new crew (yes, I said, “demanding”).

As specialist for MRI (medical engineer) I think there is a lot of incorrect information on this topic. A magnetic field of 1.5 T or 3.0 T will never “rip out” any magnetic implant!

In MRI safety we distinguish between magnetic and metallic (conductive) materials. Magnetic objects are attracted by the static magnetic field. This could cause pain from implanted items. But since many years no implant is magnetic.

Magnetic and metallic objects are electrically conductive. The strong RF fields (approx. 63 MHz at 1.5 T and 126 MHz at 3 T) can cause Eddy currents in this objects if they have a certain size. The currents can heat up the conductive objects quite quick and quite high. This is also possible for colored tattoos. The inks contain very often conductive substances like aluminum, copper, iron, etc. Therefore big colored tattoos are a contraindication for MRI scanning.

On the other hand conductive objects - even if the are to small to heat up - can cause imaging artifacts. Just an example: Scanning a person in a blue jeans with a plastic button covered with a thin copper layer showed images with a “black hole” on the belly with 10 cm diameter. Diagnostic is not possible in this case.

I just had a MRI on my lower back last Wednesday. I was allowed to keep my underwear, socks, and shoes on. I was given a set of scrubs to wear including both shirt and pants. A sign outside the dressing room states that all patients are required to wear the scrubs for their safety.

I was given two gowns for total coverage and cloth pants and was told to remove my bra. I kept my socks on but removed my underwear. The socks were given to me to put on before I had surgery so I assumed they wouldn't have metal in the material.

I had an MRI a little over a month ago, with and without contrast, and was allowed to keep my clothes on, just had to empty everything out of my pockets. The MRI was for the head and neck area only, so those were the only body parts inside the machine. I was asked if I had any dental implants, which I don't, and I was told that regular dental work (post and crown kind) was ok. I am sure that if I had to get an MRI of, let's say, pelvic area, I would have to remove at least my shirt and jeans.

I had an MRI a little over a month ago, with and without contrast, and was allowed to keep my clothes on, just had to empty everything out of my pockets. The MRI was for the head and neck area only, so those were the only body parts inside the machine. I was asked if I had any dental implants, which I don't, and I was told that regular dental work (post and crown kind) was ok. I am sure that if I had to get an MRI of, let's say, pelvic area, I would have to remove at least my shirt and jeans.

@lember I had two series shot at the same time. Neck and Thoracic spine. I had to strip to my boxers and socks. The tech said it was policy due to metal being more commonly used in fabrics. Even metallic fibers can distort an MRI image. They gave me a very stylish cloth gown that covered everything. Kinda like a spa robe. Then I was sent to a secondary waiting room where everyone was wearing their stylish gowns.

MRI machines have VERY high magnetic fields. It's just simpler and safer to just have every patient take off everything. No exceptions.

I recently (26 male) had a four MRIs of my brain and spine due to possible MS.

I was in the ER and my first MRI was of my brain and i just took off my slipper shoes i was wearing and necklace.

the next day i got a spine MRI and just beforehand I got a checkup exam bedside. So I went to my MRI without socks. I was barefoot for my second one since i had to be barefoot for my testing and my slippers couldnt be worn

@Sean I agree. If I’m getting an MRI I want the best possible image captured. I read somewhere that some tatto inks contain metals that interfere with the sensitivity of the machine as well.

Ultimately hospital isnt going to risk a very expensive asset and revenue generator plus patient safety because someone doesn't want a gown.

Small zip metal stud anything might sneak through

My last MRI was on my knee and they had me strip to my underwear, gave me a gown and the the hospital sox, with the tread on the bottom. I was told that the machine was at lower energy level, due to my metal knee prosthesis.

I have been asked to wear medical scrub like pants and shirt for one MRI scan, another I was in sweatpants and wasn't asked to remove them. My last MRI I was wear jeans again, I wasn't asked to wear a gown or scrubs this time. Instead the tech simply asked me to lower my pants while I was standing next to the table. She was getting the knee triangle resting thing and turned around to see me without any underwear on and my jeans around my ankles. She told me to sit down and then lay back. She asked me to raise my legs and placed the knee thing under my knees, I saw she was straining to not look at my exposed dick. She then found a thin sheet and unfolded it and placed it over my legs, all while looking at the ceiling. :-)

I had one MRI when're they gave me a one-size fits-all pain of paper shorts and tee shirt vs a gown. When I say one-size fits-all - I took the shorts one and made a back yard tent lout of them!!! Some imaging facilities are more strict than others. I've had MRIS in my underarms short and pants - and been asked to gown up other times when wearing them. I think it sometimes depends on what body parts are they imaging.

The 1st MRI I had was in like an office in 2012, I basically kept my shirt and shorts on.

The 2nd MRI I had was in a hospital where there was a changing room with a locker where i would change into a gown.

The most recent MRI I had last year, I had kind of just gone to the hospital, and was likely going to stay there for an emergency surgery. The nurse had 2 gowns, but I told her I didn't care about modesty and covering my back side, and at first she said I didn't have to put it on. But then for whatever reason, they did anyway as i was moved from bed to wheelchair to MRI bed, back to wheelchair, back to bed.

Just had an MRI today and the tech said “strip down head to toe and put on the gown”. He also gave me hospital socks.

dont know why socks cant be worn?