Shellock FG, Crues III JV, eds. Karacozoff AM, assoc. ed. MRI Bioeffects, Safety, and Patient Management. Biomedical Research Publishing Group; 2014; 720 pgs; $189.
Frank Shellock and John Crues’s new book MRI Bioeffects, Safety and Patient Management is not only practical but also, in many areas, highly technical. Dr. Shellock is a physiologist, known internationally to virtually all those involved with running MR facilities; his previously published softcover books on MR safety serve as a source reference for all radiologists and technologists involved in MR imaging. Dr. Crues is a radiologist whose experience in MR imaging is vast, and he has published extensively on clinical and basic issues in MR. So from them both, along with the contributions of 41 others, comes this authoritative 720-page hardcover book dealing with problems and solutions related to bioeffects, safety, and patient management in MR.
There are 31 chapters ranging in topic from the basics of MR relative to safety to all aspects of supervising an MR center/suite. Facility safety; dealing with claustrophobia, pregnancy, contrast reactions, and treatments; NSF; screening procedures; monitoring patients; and implants/devices, are discussed, among many other critical issues facing those who are responsible for generating high-quality images in a safe environment. There are 3 chapters at the end of the book that deal with standards outside the US (in Europe, Canada, and Australia).
While there is plenty of material here to keep a physicist happy, no radiologist I know of will read the detailed information on items such as RF power deposition, acoustic noise, gradient field, or static fields. However, I believe that clinical radiologists will turn to this book often to answer questions that arise every day.
How to use this book? – Patient concerns can be addressed; personnel in charge of scheduling require some of this knowledge; designers of facilities have to understand the building restrictions and requirements; technologists (on the frontline) must deal with immediate situations.
This book should be purchased and available at every facility. It will be referred to often.
Update 4/9: This review was updated because the original version mistakenly identified Dr. Shellock as a physicist. He is a physiologist. In addition, the cover price of the book was originally listed as $250, but it is in fact $189, at the time of this post. We regret the errors.
