DOTmed Industry Sector Report: Keep Cool & Cool Down

by Keith Loria, Reporter | February 26, 2010

Ice blocks are somewhat common because of people not following procedures and not ensuring the magnet is maintaining the proper pressure. You can't simply blow air inside to warm it up. Instead, helium gas is introduced down into the magnet to melt the ice.

"Many people belief the ice is being removed, but that's not the case. It's not being removed, just moved, where it will freeze again," Freund explains. "Think about melting ice off the wall of a walk-in freezer. The ice would turn to water and, run down to the floor and refreeze. You no longer have ice on the wall, but there's still ice and it's still in the freezer. The magnet is the same way. If you have ice in a visible area inside the magnet and you warm it and melt it, it just runs off and freezes somewhere else, but it's out of your way then from the ports you need to access."

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The procedure can take anywhere from 15 minutes for small icing problems up to a few days for larger ones and the cost ranges from $1,500 to $5,000.

In cases of extensive ice, the magnet may need to be Thermo Cycled. The procedure requires the magnet to be brought up to room temperature, followed by pumping out or evaporating everything contained within. Then it's cooled back down. According to Freund, the whole process is expensive and time-consuming. "It can take weeks and cost tens of thousands of dollars," he says.

Freund highly recommends using experienced companies to deal with icing - or any magnet maintenance. Experienced companies have the knowledge and the equipment needed to handle the task. But, even for the most experienced people, there is a very high risk when working with magnets and it's easy to quench a magnet, leaving your patients out (and your magnet no longer in) the cold.