New Statement on Safety of MRI With CV Devices

The American Heart Association has published a scientific statement on the safety of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with cardiovascular devices, which has also been endorsed by the American College of Cardiology, the North American Society for Cardiac Imaging, and the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance [1]. The document states that for most devices, if there is a good clinical indication for an MRI scan, then the benefits probably outweigh the risks. Lead author Dr Glenn N Levine (Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX) told heartwire: "This is the first document that specifically addresses these issues." He explained that, over the years, decisions have been made about when it is safe to do an MRI scan with a particular device, but these have not been based for the most part on any good evidence. "When coronary stents first came out, for example, it was decided that you had to wait a minimum of six weeks before doing an MRI scan, but that was not based on any firm data. And there are still people out there who won't do an MRI ever in a patient with a stent, and that is absurd. We wanted to make recommendations that are in line with actual data and expert opinion."

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