OLDER OXYGEN CYLINDER VALVE, MRI SCANNERS POSE HAZARD, MHRA SAYS

The UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued a letter to physicians Jan. 24 to warn them about a component in a model of oxygen cylinder that could make the device hazardous when it is in proximity to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment.

There was an incident of an aluminum oxygen cylinder being fitted with an obsolete pin index valve, the MHRA said. "The valve contains a metal component that was sufficiently magnetic to make the cylinder package potentially hazardous when used near some MRI scanners."

Cylinders fitted with these valves should be quarantined outside the MRI suite, suitably labeled as "unsuitable for MRI use" and returned to BOC Gases, the UK firm that manufactures the cylinders, the agency said.