MRI restriction coming to an end

There is a fun situation developing in the pacing world that I wanted to share with the group.

CMS has given the recomendation that all MRI labeling be stripped off of all pacemakers, ICD's and CRT devices. This isn't fully executed yet but its well on its way, certainly worth a watch. They did not mention leads yet, however, it's probably not far behind. Here's the decision memo

https://www.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/details/nca-proposed-decision-memo.aspx?NCAId=289


3 Comments

Interesting

by Grateful Heart - 2018-03-04 11:04:41

A few precautions though.  IE: if you have an abandoned lead it is not approved. 

I have too much hardware anyway, metal hips.... but promising for some.

Grateful Heart 

Pacemakers and MRI development

by LondonAndy - 2018-03-04 13:14:54

Many thanks for the info and link.  As a non-American, can I just confirm that I have understood the point correctly?

A regulator in the US is now saying that, with exceptions, it generally doesn't matter if your pacemaker, ICT or CRT device says whether it is MRI conditioned or not, and provided standard precautions are taken, it is safe to have an MRI scan?  

As the memo linked talks about an MRI scan being available on MedicAid, that this is a technolgy point rather than an insurance point.

Many thanks.  

(Here in the UK, even though my 3 year old pacemaker is MRI conditioned, it took me 2 years to get an MRI done, mostly because of radiographers being concerned they may cause harm.  So this is quite a significant step forward).

LondonAndy

by PacerRep - 2018-03-04 13:53:22

Yes that's basically what its saying (on the 1.5T MRI machines only). As you stated there are some exceptions to this rule as grateful heart pointed out, but its still a giant leap forward for us.

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