Magnetic shielding through the use of high permeability material. The iron provides a return path for the stray field lines of magnetic flux and so significantly decreases the flux away from the magnet.
Passive shielding (see also Faraday cage) significantly eases the problems of siting a MR imager in a confined space. Ferromagnetic objects are less prone to being attracted to the magnet, ancillary electronic equipment, credit cards and computer disks can be brought closer to the magnet and the MRI safety limit for pacemaker wearers (the 5 gauss line = 0.5 mT) is reduced from, typically, 10 m to 2 m from the magnet. A passive shield for a whole-body MRI magnet weights many tons. An alternative method of controlling stray field is active shielding.

See also Active Shielding, Magnetic Shielding, Self Shielding and Room Shielding.

Shimming by adjusting the position of suitable pieces of ferromagnetic metal within or around the main magnet of a MRI system. Typically, the iron is in the form of small plates which are held in removable trays. The magnetic field is plotted, the position and quality of the iron required is then calculated and the appropriate 'shims' put in place. Several repetitions of this process will normally be required in order to achieve the optimum arrangement.
Passive shimming does not replace adjustable shimming, but is installed during the commissioning of a unit to improve the homogeneity of the bare magnet.

See Spectral line.

(PEAKS) This function offers consistent arterial enhancement for contrast enhanced MRA studies, augmenting the k-space with filling flexibility.

Short name: NC100150, PEG-feron, generic name: Feruglose, preliminary trade name: Clariscan™, central moiety: Fe
An ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide under development as a blood pool agent (MRI contrast agent).

See Clariscan™ and NC100150 Injection.