Safe Performance of Magnetic Resonance Imaging on a Patient with an ICD

Abstract

This is a report on a patient with an implanted cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) who intentionally underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of a malignant brain tumor. To avoid inadequate detection of ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF), the ICD was inactivated by programming the VT-detection and VT/VF-therapy status off. The patient came through the protocol safely and without any difficulty or discomfort. There was no arrhythmic event. MRI affected neither programmed data nor the function of the ICD system.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging at 1.5-T in Patients With Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillators

“…2). These findings are concordant with previous studies and several case reports, which also did not find any evidence for thermal injury after MRI in ICD patients (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)9). MRI interference with ICD functionality.…”

“…In comparison with PMs, safety issues in imaging of patients with implantable cardioverterdefibrillators (ICDs) are more complex. Although MRI was performed without complications previously (1)(2)(3)(4)(5), the presence of an ICD is still considered an off-label procedure and a strong relative contraindication for MRI (6,7), and most patients with ICDs are denied for MRI despite its unparalleled capabilities for diagnosis and planning of treatment. The purpose of our study was to establish a strategy for safe performance of MRI at 1.5-T in ICD patients and to evaluate the safety and feasibility of this strategy.…”

Preclinical evaluation of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator developed for magnetic resonance imaging use

“…The current case report literature on off-label use of non-MR conditional ICDs describes a variety of clinical outcomes ranging from loss of ICD functionality to successful MR scans with no adverse events. [16][17][18][19] More recently, published single-center experiences with ICDs have noted issues such as unexpected depletion of battery voltage and electrical resets, 20,21 with an incidence of 1.5% in the largest prospective single-center study to date. 20 A multicenter registry was recently completed, assessing the risk of MRI in device patients undergoing a medically necessary nonthoracic scan.…”

Full-Body MRI in Patients With an Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator

“…Although adverse effects of MRI on conventional pacemaker and ICD systems are well documented (14)(15)(16), the magnitude of this problem with contemporary devices has been questioned in some studies. Specifically, several single-center trials have shown that such imaging can be performed safely in certain situations (17,18).…”