Pooled analyses of effects on visual and visuomotor performance from exposure to magnetic stray fields from MRI scanners: Application of the Bayesian framework

Purpose: To pool measurement data from individual studies on acute and temporal neurobehavioral effects of stray fields and reanalyze these using a Bayesian framework.

Materials and Methods: Data from tests assessing effects of exposure to stray fields (

Results: The posterior distributions suggested that visuomotor speed, but not precision, was affected by exposure (-0.2% to -0.7% per 100 mT). The visual contrast threshold at stronger contrasts also increased with increased EMF exposure (-1%/100 mT).

Conclusion: Using a Bayesian framework with conservative priors appeared to be an effective technique to assess subtle effects of exposure to stray magnetic fields. The posterior distributions were dominated by the observed data, which provides additional compelling evidence that the visuomotor domain and the visual contrast threshold level are negatively affected in the presence of stray fields of 1.5-T to 7.0-T MRI systems.