MRI seems safe despite abandoned cardiac leads: study
And no serious disruption to the implanted devices occurred during imaging, researchers say
Patients with abandoned cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) leads are at low risk from magnetic resonance imaging provided they have appropriate monitoring, researchers say.
As reported in JAMA Cardiology, 139 consecutive CIED recipients (mean age 66, 79% men) with at least one abandoned lead underwent 200 MRIs (1.5 T) of various anatomic regions including the thorax between 2013-20.
Some 64 patients (46%) were pacemaker-dependent. A transmit-receive radiofrequency coil was used in 41 patients (21%) who underwent brain MRI. No patients were excluded.
Some 243 leads were abandoned — a mean of 1.2 per patient — while the mean number of active leads was two.
