Heart Pacemakers and MRI

[Rick Mannix <rcmannix@UCI.EDU>]

I attended a meeting last week during which MRI safety issues were

discussed. Naturally, the topic of heart pacemakers was introduced.



A physician who is the director of a neuroimaging research center indicated

that the warning always issued previously  regarding those with heart

pacemakers staying at a considerable distance from MRI units is "outdated".

He said that the "newer" heart pacemakers can take the full hit of a 1.5

Tesla MRI field and keep on ticking. Thus, persons with the "newer"

pacemakers should be permitted to have medical MRI exams and to participate

in MRI research studies. [How a person would know if his/her pacemaker is

one of the MRI-safe ones -- if in fact such a thing exists -- is beyond me!]



This was a big surprise to me. I have always believed that MRIs are

absolutely contraindicated for those with any  type of heart pacemaker or

any ferromagnetic structure in their bodies, for that matter. In fact, my

understanding was that persons with pacemakers could not be exposed to

magnetic fields much above 5 Gauss without the risk of incurring possible

problems with their pacemakers. 15,000 Gauss exposures (1.5 Tesla) would be

completely out of the question. 



Does anybody know anything concerning this matter? Are there indeed

MRI-safe pacemakers?



Rick Mannix

Health Physicist

Laser Safety Officer

University of California

EH&S Office

4600 Bison Ave.

Irvine, CA 92697-2725



949-824-6098

949-824-8539   fax

rcmannix@uci.edu

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