Kaiser Permanente Redwood City installs giant magnets for MRI

They look like giant white donuts, but they are actually powerful magnets, unloaded recently at the site of Kaiser Permanente’s new specialty medical office in Redwood City. A few streets were blocked temporarily as a crane was used to lift the two magnets---weighing more than 10,000 pounds each---off a flatbed delivery truck.

The powerful magnets are the hearts of two new Magnetic Resonance Imaging (or MRI) machines that are being installed in the new medical office which is scheduled to open next year.

Because of their tremendous weight, the MRI machines are usually on the first floor of medical building. The two machines will be placed in the Radiology Department, replacing two older MRI units that have been temporarily operating in trailers parked outside of the campus during the construction.

Having the MRI machines indoors will make them more convenient and accessible for members, but also enhance safety.

MRI’s use powerful magnetism, radio frequency waves, and special computers to develop images. An X-ray is very effective for showing doctors a broken bone, but if they want to look at a patient's soft tissue, including organs, ligaments and the circulatory system, then they'll likely want an MRI.

Doctors may order MRI scans to help diagnose multiple sclerosis, brain tumors, torn ligaments, tendonitis, and strokes.

The new MRI machines will be operational once the new Kaiser Permanente Marshall Medical Office in Redwood City opens next year.