Application safety evaluation of the radio frequency identification tag under magnetic resonance imaging

BACKGROUND: Radio Frequency Identification(RFID) has been widely used in healthcare facilities, but it has been paid little attention whether RFID applications are safe enough under healthcare environment. The purpose of this study is to assess the effects of RFID tags on Magnetic Resonance (MR) imaging in a typical electromagnetic environment in hospitals, and to evaluate the safety of their applications. METHODS: A Magphan phantom was used to simulate the imaging objects, while active RFID tags were placed at different distances (0, 4, 8, 10 cm) from the phantom border. The phantom was scanned by using three typical sequences including spin-echo (SE) sequence, gradient-echo (GRE) sequence and inversion-recovery (IR) sequence. The quality of the image was quantitatively evaluated by using signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), uniformity, high-contrast resolution, and geometric distortion. RFID tags were read by an RFID reader to calculate their usable rate. RESULTS: RFID tags can be read properly after being placed in high magnetic field for up to 30 minutes. SNR: There were no differences between the group with RFID tags and the group without RFID tags using SE and IR sequence, but it was lower when using GRE sequence.Uniformity: There was a significant difference between the group with RFID tags and the group without RFID tags using SE and GRE sequence. Geometric distortion and high-contrast resolution: There were no obvious differences found. CONCLUSIONS: Active RFID tags can affect MR imaging quality, especially using the GRE sequence. Increasing the distance from the RFID tags to the imaging objects can reduce that influence. When the distance was longer than 8 cm, MR imaging quality were almost unaffected. However, the Gradient Echo related sequence is not recommended when patients wear a RFID wristband.