Pacemakers & MRI's---YES you can now

[anita]

I don't think there are many here with a pacemaker, but just in case, I thought it would be worth while to mention this.

It has always been impossible to have an MRI if you have a pacemaker.  Well, now the impossible is possible.

Johns Hopkins has developed a brand new protocol to safely perform MRI's on patients with pacemakers.  After months of my neuro trying, I was accepted for this pilot program and had 5 MRI's done Tuesday.  They have actually done several hundred (not that this is a huge number) and have a 100% success rate, with no permanent damage to the device or injury to the patient.

They told me that a few other places have tried and there have been 14 deaths as a result...certainly due to insufficient research before attempting the procedure. 

Anyway, the procedure was a success for me and the only thing I noticed was a momentary change in my pacemaker's settings that increased my heart rate via automatic pacing.  However, they were monitoring my heart and pacemaker throughout the scans and immediately overrode the action and brought my heart rate back down.

JH is getting ready (very soon) to publish a paper for their protocol so that other institutions can also safely perform these scans.

I don't have the results yet, but will let you all know when I get them.  We were looking for possible problems associated with my cognitive issues, pain, neuroapthy, etc.

[dbab]

Very good news for people that need MRI's but could not have the procedure due to this.  My mother in law has an implanted defibrillator so this would probably be included for her or maybe in future studies.  Wonderful (and brave ) of you to be a part of the study.

[anita]

Yes, ICD's are included in this current protocol.