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What This Guide Helps With
Troubleshooting MRI image artifacts, RF noise, distortion, or QA scan failures caused by external, setup, coil, room, or environmental issues.
Step-by-Step Troubleshooting
Ensure Patient Safety First
If the artifact or distortion is discovered during an active patient exam, do not continue scanning until image quality is clinically acceptable.
Move the patient off the table if troubleshooting requires coil changes, table movement checks, room entry, or repeated test scans.
Expected outcome: Patient care is not continued on a system producing unreliable image quality.
Confirm the Reported Artifact or QA Failure
Review the reported image artifact, failed QA result, or technologist description.
Identify whether the issue appears as:
- RF noise or zipper artifact
- Geometric distortion
- Shading or signal dropout
- Ghosting or motion-like artifact
- Coil element dropout
- Failed phantom QA
- Intermittent image noise
Expected outcome: The failure type is clearly identified before troubleshooting begins.
Check Whether the Issue Affects All Scans or One Exam Type
Ask whether the artifact appears on all patients, one specific coil, one protocol, one sequence, or only during QA.
Run a simple approved phantom or QA scan if appropriate and safe.
Expected outcome: The problem is narrowed to system-wide, coil-specific, protocol-specific, or QA setup-related behavior.
Verify the MRI Room Is Clear of Unauthorized Equipment
Inspect the scan room for equipment that should not be present during scanning, such as wheelchairs, pumps, monitors, cables, tools, carts, or loose accessories.
Confirm all items in the room are MRI safe or MRI conditional and appropriate for the scan environment.
Expected outcome: No unauthorized or questionable equipment is contributing to RF noise, distortion, or safety risk.
Check for External RF Noise Sources
Confirm the scan room door is fully closed and latching properly during the scan.
Look for items that may interfere with RF shielding, including cables passing through the door, damaged door seals, loose panels, or open penetration panel covers.
Expected outcome: The MRI room shielding path is intact during scanning.
Inspect Coil Selection and Positioning
Verify the correct coil is selected for the exam or QA scan.
Confirm the coil is positioned correctly, centered over the anatomy or phantom, and not tilted, twisted, or partially outside the expected imaging area.
Expected outcome: The coil setup matches the protocol and scan region.
Inspect Coil Cables and Connectors
With the system safe and not actively scanning a patient, inspect the coil cable routing, connector seating, and visible cable condition.
Look for loose connections, bent connector pins, damaged cable jackets, excessive strain, or cables routed under the patient/table in a way that could affect contact or positioning.
Expected outcome: Coil connections are secure and no obvious accessory damage is present.
Swap to a Known-Good Coil When Appropriate
If the artifact appears linked to a specific coil, repeat a basic test using another compatible known-good coil or coil element setup.
If the artifact disappears with another coil, remove the suspect coil from service and document the finding.
Expected outcome: A coil-related fault is confirmed or ruled out without internal system disassembly.
Verify Phantom and QA Setup
For failed QA scans, confirm the correct phantom is being used and is placed according to site procedure.
Check phantom fill level if visible, positioning, centering, orientation, and that the correct QA protocol is selected.
Expected outcome: QA failure is not caused by incorrect phantom placement, wrong protocol, or poor setup.
Check Patient or Phantom Positioning
Confirm the anatomy or phantom is properly centered in the magnet bore and positioned according to the selected protocol.
Off-center positioning can contribute to shading, distortion, failed uniformity checks, or inconsistent QA results.
Expected outcome: Positioning-related image quality problems are ruled out.
Review Protocol and Sequence Selection
Confirm the correct protocol, coil configuration, scan plane, field of view, slice thickness, bandwidth, and acceleration settings were used.
If the issue began after protocol changes, compare against a known-good saved protocol or standard site protocol.
Expected outcome: The artifact is not caused by an incorrect or modified scan setup.
Check for Patient-Related Artifact Sources
If the artifact occurred during a patient exam, confirm whether motion, metal implants, monitoring leads, clothing, medication patches, or external devices could have contributed.
Do not assume system failure until patient-specific causes are considered.
Expected outcome: Patient-related causes are separated from equipment-related causes.
Check Table and Accessory Positioning
Confirm the table moves smoothly, locks into the expected scan position, and is not obstructed.
Verify pads, cushions, straps, positioning aids, and accessories are not interfering with coil placement or causing poor patient positioning.
Expected outcome: Table or accessory setup is not contributing to distortion, shading, or repeat QA failures.
Review Recent Environmental or Facility Changes
Ask whether construction, new equipment installation, electrical work, network cabling, room modifications, or shielding work occurred recently near the MRI suite.
New external interference sources can cause RF noise or image artifacts even when the scanner itself has not changed.
Expected outcome: Facility-related causes are identified for further investigation if needed.
Power Cycle Only If Approved by Site Procedure
If the system is not in patient use and site policy allows, perform an approved system restart or controlled power cycle.
Do not perform emergency shutdowns or service-level resets unless trained and authorized.
Expected outcome: Temporary software or acquisition communication issues may clear, or the artifact remains reproducible.
Repeat a Controlled Test Scan
After correcting any setup, coil, room, or protocol issue, repeat the appropriate QA or phantom scan.
Compare the result to the original failure.
Expected outcome: If the scan passes and the artifact is gone, return the system to service according to site policy and stop troubleshooting.
Remove Suspect Accessories from Service
If a specific coil, cable, phantom, pad, or accessory is linked to the artifact or QA failure, remove that item from service.
Label it clearly and route it for repair, replacement, or vendor evaluation.
Expected outcome: The scanner is not blamed for an accessory-related fault, and the unsafe or unreliable accessory is controlled.
If the Problem Persists
If RF noise, distortion, image artifact, or QA failure continues after room setup, patient factors, coil selection, coil connections, phantom setup, protocol selection, and environmental checks have been ruled out, the issue may involve internal MRI system hardware, RF chain, gradient performance, shielding integrity, calibration, or system software.
The MAGNETOM Vida should be:
- Removed from clinical use if image quality is unreliable
- Labeled Out of Service
- Escalated to Siemens Healthineers service or qualified MRI service support
- Held for bench/system evaluation, QA review, and corrective action
Knowing when to stop is proper troubleshooting. MRI image quality problems can affect diagnosis and should not be worked around.
Clinical Use Tip
Do not troubleshoot artifact or QA failures on an active patient unless the action is limited, safe, and approved by MRI staff. If image quality is questionable, move the patient to another scanner or reschedule according to clinical priority.
Work Order Documentation (CCR Method)
CCR = Complaint, Cause, Resolution
Complaint
What was reported by the clinical staff.
Example:
"MRI technologist reported RF noise and failed phantom QA scan on the Siemens MAGNETOM Vida."
Cause
What was observed during troubleshooting.
Example:
"Clinical Engineering found the scan room door was not fully latching during QA, allowing intermittent RF noise during acquisition."
Resolution
What action was taken.
Example:
"Door obstruction was removed, QA scan was repeated successfully, and the MAGNETOM Vida was returned to service."
Helpful Details to Include (If Known)
- Whether the issue occurred during patient scan or QA
- Artifact type observed
- Whether all coils or one coil were affected
- Coil used during failure
- Coil cables and connectors inspected
- Phantom type and positioning verified
- Scan room door fully closed and latched
- Any new equipment or construction nearby
- Protocol or sequence involved
- Whether the artifact was intermittent or repeatable
- QA result before and after troubleshooting
- Final device status
Final Thought
MRI image artifact troubleshooting should move from simple external causes to controlled repeat testing. Patient safety, coil setup, room shielding behavior, phantom positioning, and protocol selection should be checked before assuming internal scanner failure. Clear CCR documentation helps separate scanner faults from accessory, setup, or environmental causes.
That is successful troubleshooting.