- By Philips
- March 01 2025
- 5 min read
With an aging population, large joint replacements and cardiac implantable devices are becoming increasingly prevalent. Also, the prevalence of conditions needing an MRI examination, such as neurodegenerative diseases, cancer and musculoskeletal diseases, increases with age. Not all implanted devices are an absolute contraindication for MRI anymore. Patients with MR Conditional implants can undergo MRI, but only under clearly defined conditions and performed by well-trained staff. In this article, four experts discuss scanning patients with MR Conditional implants.
At-a-glance:
- Four MRI experts discuss the scanning of patients with MR Conditional implants
- As the population ages, there's a rising prevalence of joint replacements, cardiac devices and MRI-needing conditions like neurodegenerative diseases, cancer and musculoskeletal issues
- Need for MRI scans in patients with orthopedic implants, driven by increased implant prevalence in older adults
- There are currently 34 million MRI patient exams per year within the USA. About 3.9% of the US population are presently carrying an orthopedic or cardiac implant
Featuring
Dr. Emanuel Kanal
Professor of Radiology and Neuroradiology, Director of MR Services at University of Pittsburgh
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He is Chairman of the American Board of Magnetic Resonance Safety and is lead author of the American College of Radiology’s White Paper on MR Safety and MR Safe Practice Guidelines.
Greg Brown
MRI Consultant and PhD candidate
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He is an Honorary member of the SMRT, and serves on their MR safety group. He is a non-voting Board Member and SMRT delegate on the American Board of Magnetic Resonance Safety, and holds their MRSO certification. Mr. Brown is an active user of social media platforms on the use of MRI and MRI safety.
Paul W. de Bruin
Medical Physicist at the Radiology Department
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As a member of the Clinical Physics Group and the C.J. Gorter Center for High-field MRI at Leiden University he has various research interests in the field of MRI including high-field MR (3T/7T) applications, DCE-MRI, sodium MRI, pharmacokinetics, and musculoskeletal applications.
Harald Kugel, PhD
MR physicist, Department of Clinical Radiology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
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He is the author of numerous articles on MR applications and safety, has been actively involved in the teaching of practical ISMRM courses in MR safety, and is a member of the Technical Committee 'MR Procedures' of the German Standards Committee Radiology.
Scanning patients with Conditional implants
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Footnotes
- Philips, data on file. Based on Millennium research group reports RPUS21LJ09; RPUS21LJ10; RPUS21LJ15; RPEU21LJ08; RPEU21LJ15; RPUS50DI14; RPUS20SP10; RPEU20SP10; RPUS21LJ10; RPEU20SP13; RPUS20SP15; US12CR07; RPGL12CR10; RPGL12CR14 and Barmer GEK Arztreport 2011.
- Desai MJ, Hargens LM, Breitenfeldt MD, Doth AH, Ryan MP, Gunnarsson C, Safriel Y. The rate of magnetic resonance imaging in patients with spinal cord stimulation. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2015;40:E531-7.
- IMV 2013 MR Market Outlook Report.
- ASTM F2503-13, Standard Practice for Marking Medical Devices and Other Items for Safety in the Magnetic Resonance Environment, ASTM International, West Conshohocken, PA, 2013, www.astm.org*
- Expert Panel on MR Safety. ACR Guidance Document on MR Safe Practices: 2013. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2013;37:501-30.
- Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. Safety Guidelines for Magnetic Resonance Imaging Equipment in Clinical Use. 2014.
- Lowe MD, Plummer CJ, Manisty CH3, Linker NJ. Safe use of MRI in people with cardiac implantable electronic devices. Heart. 2015. pii: heartjnl-2015-308495. doi: 10.1136/heartjnl-2015-308495. [Epub ahead of print]
- Sommer T, et al. German Roentgen Society Statement on MR Imaging of Patients with Cardiac Pacemakers. Fortschr Röntgenstr 2015; 187: 777-87.
- Woods, TO. Establishing Safety and Compatibility of Passive Implants in the Magnetic Resonance (MR) Environment, 2014, www.fda.gov*.
- For instance: IEC 60601-2-33 – Requirements for the Safety of MR Equipment for Medical Diagnosis; FDA – Guidelines for Premarket Notifications for MR Diagnostic Devices; NEMA MS 1 through 9 – Safety and Performance Standards.
- American College of Radiology. Accreditation. www.acr.org/quality-safety/accreditation*.
Disclaimer
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