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Reducing RF‐related heating of cardiac pacemaker leads in MRI: Implementation and experimental verification of practical design changes
Author(s) -
Nordbeck Peter,
Fidler Florian,
Friedrich Michael T.,
Weiss Ingo,
Warmuth Marcus,
Gensler Daniel,
Herold Volker,
Geistert Wolfgang,
Jakob Peter M.,
Ertl Georg,
Ritter Oliver,
Ladd Mark E.,
Bauer Wolfgang R.,
Quick Harald H.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
magnetic resonance in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.696
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1522-2594
pISSN - 0740-3194
DOI - 10.1002/mrm.24197
Subject(s) - lead (geology) , magnetic resonance imaging , conductor , materials science , electrical conductor , implant , cardiac pacemaker , biomedical engineering , medicine , radiology , cardiology , surgery , geomorphology , composite material , geology
There are serious concerns regarding safety when performing magnetic resonance imaging in patients with implanted conductive medical devices, such as cardiac pacemakers, and associated leads, as severe incidents have occurred in the past. In this study, several approaches for altering an implant's lead design were systematically developed and evaluated to enhance the safety of implanted medical devices in a magnetic resonance imaging environment. The individual impact of each design change on radiofrequency heating was then systematically investigated in functional lead prototypes at 1.5 T. Radiofrequency‐induced heating could be successfully reduced by three basic changes in conventional pacemaker lead design: (1) increasing the lead tip area, (2) increasing the lead conductor resistance, and (3) increasing outer lead insulation conductivity. The findings show that radiofrequency energy pickup in magnetic resonance imaging can be reduced and, therefore, patient safety can be improved with dedicated construction changes according to a “safe by design” strategy. Incorporation of the described alterations into implantable medical devices such as pacemaker leads can be used to help achieve favorable risk‐benefit‐ratios when performing magnetic resonance imaging in the respective patient group. Magn Reson Med, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.