MRI With a Pacemaker

Hi!! I am new to this site and wonder if anybody has had a MRI since they had a Pacemaker?

11 Comments

MRI

by Tripletmom - 2009-07-15 11:07:29

I just read my own comment and noticed alot of mispelled words! sorry!! I don't have my glasses on.

MRI

by Tripletmom - 2009-07-15 11:07:56

A New DR for me sayes and can be done and recommends it for me! He a cardioligists in Minnisota we are lookig for stroke signs. I haven't been told how yt but he sayes it can and should be done!

MRI

by tjarcelin - 2009-07-15 11:07:56

I have been told "no way" by my cardiologist. I really need one because I have a bad back. I am curious to see if anyone else responds!

Jacki

MRI

by J.B. - 2009-07-16 03:07:44

Supposedly some of the new pacemakers can withstand the electromagnetic field created during a MRI, but as Tracey said the older ones cannot. Personally, I would not have a MRI with one of the newer ones, but then that is me.

Rather than listen to the things being repeated here, I think you should go to the people that know your pacemaker best. That is the maker. Contact them and give them the model number and serial number of your pacemaker and see what they have to say abut you having a MRI. They know what diagnostic procedures are safe for your pacemaker.

When discussions like this one come up I always recall something I heard when I was about 12 years old. Two adults were talking about the very serious surgery one was facing and the risks it carried. The fellow said "I just hope that doctor knows what he is dong because I have always heard the mistakes made by a doctor are buried and I'm not ready to buried yet."

Good luck,

J. B.

MRI

by Tripletmom - 2009-07-16 04:07:34

Thanks for they advice!!! The reason I need a MRI is I went in for a surgery there was a mistake the surgery was aborted. Two days later a pacemaker was implanted two months after that the wires had to be moved then three months later another pacemaker was implanted. In the mean time I trip and fall alot my memory is gone I lose things and I feel like I'm going crazy we think There may have been a stroke!
My whole life is affected I have to link the sympton with with the botched surgery! wE KNOW THE PACEMAKER IS linked but we need to prove everything I dont believe in Lawsuits but my family has suffered I'm not the Mom I once was!! I want my medical bills covered for life and compensation for Quality of Life! I've prayed about this decission and decided it is right for my family! Also my eye sight has changed and I don't have my glasses on so their is alot of misspelled words sorry.
Triplet Mom

NO

by Tracey_E - 2009-07-16 07:07:11

They are making some new pm's that are safe with MRI's, but if you have older leads it is still not safe. You'd have to have the new mri-safe pm as well as the new type of leads.

They are making some new MRI machines that some doctors say are safe for pm's. My cardiologist had been told by the hospital that their new machine was safe for pm's, so he told me it was safe on that particular machine. I ran it by my radiologist friend and he was adamant that I not do it. He said that the pm will not be damaged, but the leads can heat up and cause permanent damage to our hearts. He said radiologist are split- some feel the new equipment is safe but many of them (his practice among them) still will not do it on a pm patient because the risk from the leads is too high. He talked me right out of it, I got a CT instead.

I spoke to a MRI rep

by pacergirl - 2009-07-16 07:07:15

I lunched with an MRI rep yesterday and of course I asked him about this very thing. He said that his MRI is not able to check PM/ICD patients.... However the companies that produce these scanners are in the development stages of designing an MRI that will be able to test patients like us. He suggested a CT scan instead.
Pacergirl

MRI

by donb - 2009-07-16 07:07:43

I was also faced with the problem back in 2000. After having L4 & L5 disc surgery in 1960, 40 years later I needed a Laminectomy done. Having a PM 8 years prior, naturally a MRI was out of the picture.

I found a good surgeon who would do the job working with a CT scan. He did a major Laminectomy from L1 to S1, a 41/2 hour surgery which was very succesfull. He did say later it would have been a little easier working from a MRI. Don

I wouldn't do it

by johnb10000 - 2009-07-16 12:07:13

I won't go into an MRI machine because it uses a strong magnetic field.

I did have a CT scan done this morning and this machine is safer for a pacemaker. They did an image of my heart for the ablation surgery I am having tomorrow morning.

I did the scan with my clothes on so I didn't have to wear one of those horrible hospital gowns. After the scan the technician said to check my pockets to see if anything fell out and I noticed my cell phone in my pocket was on when I went though the scanner with no problems.

The only bad part of the CT scan is they inject an iodine solution through an IV that made me feel warn for a few minutes. The whole test took about ten minutes.



No, No, No

by ted - 2009-07-17 02:07:21

I don't believe that any hospital or lab will perform an MRI on anyone with a pacer. It's the leads that are the problem because they will heat up and burn the heart.

Noooooooooooo

by Hot Heart - 2009-07-19 05:07:14

I was told 'NO' to mri and iodine!

HH

You know you're wired when...

You make store alarms beep.

Member Quotes

It may be the first time we've felt a normal heart rhythm in a long time, so of course it seems too fast and too strong.