title: Pacemaker lead tip heating in abandoned and pacemaker-attached leads at 1.5 Tesla MRI.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the risk of RF-induced heating in pacemaker-attached and abandoned leads using in vitro temperature measurements at 1.5 Tesla as a function of lead length.
  
  
  METHODS
  Five custom lead lengths, 20-60 cm, were exposed to a uniform magnitude and phase radiofrequency electric field to examine the effect of lead length on pacemaker lead tip heating for pacemaker-attached and abandoned pacemaker leads.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Abandoned and pacemaker-attached leads show resonant heating behavior and maximum heating occurs at different lead lengths due to the differences in termination conditions. For clinical lead lengths (40-60 cm) abandoned leads exhibited greater lead tip heating compared with pacemaker-attached leads.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Current recommendations for MRI pacemaker safety should highlight the possible increased risk for patients with abandoned leads as compared to pacemaker-attached leads.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiological Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA. dlangman@mednet.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Deborah A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Langman
authors.forename: Ira B
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.forename: J Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Finn
authors.forename: Daniel B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Ennis
mesh_terms: D004567:Electrodes, Implanted; D004867:Equipment Design; D004868:Equipment Failure; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D004869:Equipment Safety / Q000379:methods*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation*; D010138:Pacemaker, Artificial