Magnetic shielding through the use of high permeability material in the walls (plus floor and ceiling) of the magnet room. Room shielding can be complete (e.g., six sides of a box, Faraday cage), or partial if the fringe field is to be reduced only in certain areas (see also Magnetic Shielding).

Magnetic shielding through the use of secondary shielding coils designed to produce a magnetic field that cancels the field from primary coils in regions where it is not desired. These coils may be inside the magnet cryostat. Active shielding can be applied to the main magnet or to the gradient magnetic fields.

See also Magnetic Shielding, Self Shielding and Room Shielding.

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.

Quick Overview
Please note that there are different common names for this artifact.

RF noise, which often appears as static on the image, can be caused by a medical device located anywhere in the MR procedure room. RF noise is a result of excessive electromagnetic emissions from the device that interference with the proper operation of the MR scanner. The interference is attenuated and aliased in the frequency direction.

In the first case try to eliminate the factor of disturbance, if the problem persists screen the magnet- and room shielding.

See also Signal to Noise Ratio.

Quick Overview

Zipper artifacts appear as dashed lines. There are various causes for this MRI artifact.
Most of zipper artifacts result from inhomogeneities of the magnetic field caused by interferences with radio frequency from various sources ('your radio is working in the scanner room means your shielding is not working'). Software and equipment problems can also cause zipper lines in both directions.

Scanning room door during the acquisition of images is closed, shielding is working, and all disturbing devices are removed?

See also Room Shielding, Active Shielding, Radio Frequency Shielding.