An incident at a hospital in Canada has prompted a warning about the hazards of wearing certain types of yoga pants -- which may contain metal fibers -- during MRI scans.
According to a report by Global News, a female patient wearing yoga pants who was undergoing an MRI scan at Lakeridge Health in Oshawa, Ontario, felt a "burning sensation" and had to press the emergency button to stop the scan. After the yoga pants were removed, the MRI exam was restarted without incident.
The patient and staff found out later that the pants are made of a material that contains silver, which can cause burning during an MRI scan.
To prevent such events, Queen's University in Ottawa, Ontario, amended its MRI safety questionnaire to ask patients if they are wearing clothing with silver or gold threading, such as Lululemon yoga pants, which have a "Silverescent" material designed to block the growth of odor-causing bacteria.
Lakeridge Health now also requires all patients to use a gown for MRI scans, according to the article.
