Transversal contact of the fluoroptic temperature probe with the pacemaker lead tip minimized temperature and SAR underestimation, whereas other positions yielded errors up to -45% and -54%.
Transversal contact of fluoroptic probes on pacemaker leads minimizes temperature and SAR measurement errors during MRI heating evaluations.
The purpose of this work is to evaluate the error associated with temperature and SAR measurements using fluoroptic temperature probes on pacemaker (PM) leads during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We performed temperature measurements on pacemaker leads, excited with a 25, 64, and 128 MHz current. The PM lead tip heating was measured with a fluoroptic thermometer (Luxtron, Model 3100, USA). Different contact configurations between the pigmented portion of the temperature probe and the PM lead tip were investigated to find the contact position minimizing the temperature and SAR underestimation. A computer model was used to estimate the error made by fluoroptic probes in temperature and SAR measurement. The transversal contact of the pigmented portion of the temperature probe and the PM lead tip minimizes the underestimation for temperature and SAR. This contact position also has the lowest temperature and SAR error. For other contact positions, the maximum temperature error can be as high as -45%, whereas the maximum SAR error can be as high as -54%. MRI heating evaluations with temperature probes should use a contact position minimizing the maximum error, need to be accompanied by a thorough uncertainty budget and the temperature and SAR errors should be specified.
Mattei et al. (Tue,) conducted a other in Pacemaker lead heating during MRI. Fluoroptic temperature probes contact configurations vs. Other contact positions was evaluated on Temperature and SAR measurement error. Transversal contact of the fluoroptic temperature probe with the pacemaker lead tip minimized temperature and SAR underestimation, whereas other positions yielded errors up to -45% and -54%.