Magnetic resonance imaging: absence of in vitro cytogenetic damage.

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Abstract
Human lymphocytes and Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells in culture were exposed for 12 1/2 h to a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus with a 2.35-Tesla magnet and 100-MHz radio frequency emission. The cells were examined for cytogenetic damage manifested either as chromosome aberrations or sister chromatid exchanges (SCE), which constitute very sensitive measures of genetic and cellular damage. In either unstimulated or stimulated human lymphocytes, as well as in exponentially growing CHO cells, no increase in either chromosome aberrations or SCE was found as a result of exposure to these MR conditions. Long-term exposure to MR imaging conditions far exceeding those to be found in the clinical situation evidently do not cause cytogenetic damage.