Contrary to conventional belief, MRI exams can be performed safely in patients who have non-MR compatible cardiac devices, including patients who are pacemaker-dependent or who have abandoned leads.

More than 2 million patients have cardiovascular implantable electronic devices (CIEDs), such as pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), and they are a patient group who most often could benefit clinically from having an MRI exam. Until now, though, providers have been forced to choose between finding an alternative, less-effective imaging for the chest or removing a necessary cardiac device.

“We found no serious adverse consequences of performing MRI examinations, including cardiac MRI examinations, in a large consecutive cohort of patients with non-MRI-conditional CIEDs,” said the team led by Sanjaya K. Gupta, MD, a cardiologist with Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Missouri.

Read the full article in Diagnostic Imaging: MRI Is Safe for Pacemaker Patients, Opening the Door for Needed Exams.