RAD-Planning was asked to come to Saudi Arabia to develop designs for a new MRI center for the flagship hospital of the Saudi Ministry of Health. The project involved converting an existing materials storage area into a suite that could accommodate up to six MRI scanners, and adhere to international best practices for physical environment safety, including the four-zone model and perhaps the first use of ferromagnetic detection in the Kingdom.

 

The MRI project required very close coordination with adjacent works for the construction of KFMC’s new cancer center, as the infrastructure for the new building had the potential to disrupt the performance of the MRI scanners. In coordinating with the designers and contractors for the adjacent cancer center, RAD-Planning was asked to also evaluate the designs of the imaging and radiation therapy rooms.

 

Those evaluations identified design omissions which could have significantly compromised safety, and locations where changes in technology had not triggered required changes in the suite design and building preparation.

 

The MRI project delivered an MRI suite that is capable of handling patients with nearly any clinical needs (including ICU patients), and that is upgradable over time to grow from four to as many as six MRI scanners sharing common patient support spaces. The shielding review caught errors in the coordination between medical physicists and design engineers, improved the building safety, and improved the landmark new building’s ability to accept the most advanced imaging and therapy equipment.