VANCOUVER, B.C. – When done safely, MRI imaging has an important role to play in patients with pacemakers and implanted cardioverter defibrillators, according to a study of 32 patients who underwent the procedure without complications at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh.
"It looks like this is safe in the right situation," based on the results and ongoing research elsewhere. "There are occasions – more often than you might think – when" MRI imaging of such patients has "potentially life-saving consequences. I would suggest it is probably no longer taboo," said lead investigator Dr. Robert Biederman, director of cardiovascular MRI at Allegheny and an associate professor of medicine at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
Among the 32 patients in the study, 23 underwent neurologic MRI imaging, and 9 underwent cardiac MRI imaging. Cardiac MRI imaging picked up cardiac sarcoidosis in one, and constrictive pericarditis in another. In six cases, it simply confirmed provisional diagnoses. Even so, "there is value in confirming for surgeons, patients, and family members that they are doing the right thing," he said.
Dr. Biederman presented his research at the 18th World Congress on Heart Disease.
SOURCE: Family Practice News