Saman Nazarian, Rozann Hansford, Amir A Rahsepar, Valeria Weltin, Diana McVeigh, Esra Gucuk Ipek, Alan Kwan, Ronald D Berger, Hugh Calkins, Albert C Lardo, Michael A Kraut, Ihab R Kamel, Stefan L Zimmerman, Henry R Halperin
BACKGROUND: Patients who have pacemakers or defibrillators are often denied the opportunity to undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) because of safety concerns, unless the devices meet certain criteria specified by the Food and Drug Administration (termed "MRI-conditional" devices). METHODS: We performed a prospective, nonrandomized study to assess the safety of MRI at a magnetic field strength of 1.5 Tesla in 1509 patients who had a pacemaker (58%) or an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (42%) that was not considered to be MRI-conditional (termed a "legacy" device)...
December 28, 2017: New England Journal of Medicine