A major study from researchers in Pennsylvania suggests that MRI is a "safe and effective diagnostic procedure" for patients with implantable cardiac devices.
The research, believed to be the first ever focused solely on the value of MRI in this patient population, was presented last week at the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) annual scientific sessions by a team from Allegheny General Hospital (AGH) in Pittsburgh.
Dr. Robert Biederman, medical director of AGH's Cardiovascular Institute and one of the lead researchers, said the findings indicate that using MRI on patients with implanted pacemakers and defibrillators adds substantial clinical value to diagnosis and patient management, justifying the risk of the procedure.
Over the past several years, AGH researchers evaluated 157 patients, including 114 neurology and neurosurgery cases, 36 cardiovascular cases, and seven musculoskeletal cases.
MRI helped in the final diagnosis of 88% of the neurology/neurosurgery cases and changed the original diagnosis in 18% of those cases. In addition, 92% of the cardiac cases saw a benefit from the use of MRI, while all of the musculoskeletal cases realized a benefit from MRI.
There were no adverse clinical events associated with MRI for any of the patients studied.
