Key result
In a survey of Swiss radiologists, 93% considered a conventional pacemaker an absolute contraindication for an MRI examination, reflecting a stricter clinical practice than recommended by professional societies.
Cross-Sectional (n=70)
This article reviews the safety of MRI in pacemaker patients and surveys Swiss radiologists on their current practices.
May limit MRI access for pacemaker patients; leaves open whether education aligns practices with guidelines.
Electromagnetic fields arising from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can cause various clinically relevant functional disturbances in patients with cardiac pacemakers. Consequently, an implanted pacemaker is generally considered a contraindication for an MRI scan. With approximately 60 million MRI scans performed worldwide per year, MRI may be indicated for an estimated majority of pacemaker patients during the lifetime of their pacemakers. The availability of MR conditional pacemakers with CE labelling is of particular advantage since they allow the safe use of pacemakers in MRI. In this article the current state of knowledge on pacemakers and MR imaging is discussed. We present the results of a survey conducted among Swiss radiologists to assess current practice in patients with pacemakers.
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Weishaupt et al. (2011) conducted a cross-sectional in Radiologists' practices regarding MRI in pacemaker patients (n=70). Survey on MRI practices was evaluated on Proportion of radiologists considering a conventional pacemaker an absolute contraindication for MR examination. In a survey of Swiss radiologists, 93% considered a conventional pacemaker an absolute contraindication for an MRI examination, reflecting a stricter clinical practice than recommended by professional societies.
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