Intended for healthcare professionals

News

Patients with cardiac devices should not be excluded from MRI scans, say experts

BMJ 2018; 362 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k3623 (Published 22 August 2018) Cite this as: BMJ 2018;362:k3623
  1. Zosia Kmietowicz
  1. The BMJ

Patients fitted with a pacemaker or an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) are missing out on prompt diagnosis of a range of conditions because they are being prevented from having magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans owing to safety concerns, cardiologists and radiologists have said.

Only one in 50 patients with a cardiac device who need an MRI scan is currently given one, as pacemakers and ICDs have both traditionally been seen as contraindications.

But this assumption is no longer valid and needs to change, said a statement from the British Cardiovascular Society and the Clinical Imaging Board (the Society and College of Radiographers, the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine, and the Royal College of Radiologists).1

These …

View Full Text

Log in

Log in through your institution

Subscribe

* For online subscription