MRI is quite safe in the majority of patients.

Certain patients may not be able to have an MRI. These include people who get nervous in small spaces (claustrophobic) and those with implanted medical devices such as aneurysm clips in the brain, heart pacemakers and cochlear (inner ear) implants. Also, people with pieces of metal close to or in an important organ (such as the eye) may not be scanned.

Also, certain metal objects that we common have on our persons like watches, credit cards, hair pins, writing pens, etc. may be damaged by the MRI scanner or may be pulled away from our bodies if we go into an MRI room.

Also, metal can sometimes cause poor pictures if it is close to the part being scanned. For these reasons, patients are asked to remove these objects before entering the MRI scanner.