Why isn’t it a standard practice to use metal detectors and smaller magnets on a patient before putting them in an MRI machine?

Question

Especially if a patient is not lucid, wouldn’t it make sense to, firstly, check with a metal detector if there is anything metal inside, then use a small magnet to see if that something would cause problems, and only then put the patient inside the MRI machine? I guess there must be a good reason not to do that routinely, right?

In: Physics

Answer 1

Almost all MRIs are of patients with known medical records. Those records should include implanted metal. Metal detectors aren’t that accurate, to find a small screw or pin.