Do Patients with Implants Experience Strong Sensations That Lead to Early Termination of MRI Examinations?

Abstract

Purpose. Many patients with metallic implants are aware of the potential dangers in an MRI environment. Some implants cause sensations perceptible by the patient during an MRI scan. We wanted to find out if patients having an implant abort MRI scans more often than patients without implants. Furthermore, we wanted to know if the number of implants of a patient has an influence on the number of aborted MRI scans. As we use 3T MRI scanners from different manufacturers we wanted to see the influence of the “ScanWise” software option where scan parameters are adapted automatically to the maximal allowed limits of implant values. This publication should help to reduce possible anxiety in patients with implants. Materials and Methods. From May 15th 2017 until July 17th 2018 the implant type of patients was recorded. We looked how often aborted MRI scans coincided with the occurrence of implants and the MRI scanner type used. Results. 4088 examinations were collected for the analysis. No influence of implants on aborted MRI scans was registered. No influence of the number of implants on aborted MRI scans was registered. No influence of the use of “ScanWise” software on aborted MRI scans was registered when different scanners were compared. Conclusion. “MR Safe” or “MR Conditional” labelled implants did not have an impact on the MRI examinations. “ScanWise” software does not affect how MRI examinations are tolerated.