"Most GC's do not have time to do this, despite the potential affect it could have on overall construction costs," says Krachon.

Another challenge is maintaining the shield after construction is complete. A construction company might come in and work on the sprinkler or ventilation system and if they are not properly informed about MR shielding, they can throw off MR scans and force hospitals to troubleshoot their imaging woes while piling on the service costs.


"Our largest challenges are not shield install related, but rather dealing with the continued education of general contractors and architects on the 'how's and why's' to preserve the shielding integrity during the balance of construction after the shield is complete," says Profeta.




Yet another challenge is placement of the enclosure. It is typically easiest to outfit a hospital or imaging center when the MR is situated in the basement or first floor, but increasingly, MR scanners are going in on the upper floors to complement other departments, like the OR or nuclear medicine suite, and a host of new disturbances have to be accounted for.

Keeping up with maintenance is also an issue. Many sources indicate that neglect after installation is not that infrequent.

"Unfortunately, not many sites follow up with [shielding maintenance] after the install is complete and the image quality can suffer," says Profeta. "Most doors require regular maintenance to ensure ease of operation and a good RF seal. Yearly re-certification is recommended and may soon be required."

Stymied, but Not at a Stalemate

Shielding companies have had to get creative with their businesses as the kinds of products and services they provide have shifted with the dictates of the market, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of suffering.

"In general, bringing in new equipment has been stymied and delayed, but there's been a lot of desire to upgrade and no matter what is happening with the economy, there is going to be a certain interest in developing this technology."

As long as MRI systems emit energy that must be contained and as long as the world outside the MRI vault provides all the disturbance and interference of the modern world of technology, this industry will be relatively shielded from the financial upsets felt by other industries.

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