Clinicians should consider mechanical heart valves as a potential source of metal emboli in patients presenting with ferromagnetic artifacts on MRI.
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May explain unexplained ferromagnetic MRI artifacts in mechanical valve patients; single case leaves association hypothesis-generating.
We report a patient with unusual MRI abnormalities that had the physical characteristics of ferromagnetic artifact. We believe that the MRI artifacts were due to microscopic embolic metal fragments, most likely from a mechanical heart valve prosthesis. Potential sources of metal emboli should be considered in patients with MRI abnormalities compatible with ferromagnetic artifact.
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Wingerchuk et al. (1997) studied this question.
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