title: Not all pacemakers are created equal: MRI conditional pacemaker and lead technology.
abstract: Due to expanding clinical indications and an aging society there has been an increase in the use of implantable pacemakers. At the same time, due to increased diagnostic yield over other imaging modalities and the absence of ionizing radiation, there has been a surge in demand for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) assessment, of both cardiac and noncardiac conditions. Patients with an implantable device have a 50-75% chance of having a clinical indication for MRI during the lifetime of their device. The presence of an implantable cardiac device has been seen as a relative contraindication to MRI assessment, limiting the prognostic and diagnostic utility of MRI in many patients with these devices. The introduction of MRI conditional pacemakers will enable more patients to undergo routine MRI assessment without risk of morbidity or device malfunction. This review gives a general overview of the principles and current evidence for the use of MRI conditional implantable cardiac devices. Furthermore, we appraise the differences between those pacemakers currently released to market.
authors.affiliation: Manchester Heart Centre, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Manchester, UK; Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: Fozia Z
authors.initials: FZ
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: Gwilym M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.forename: Rajdeep
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Khattar
authors.forename: Mamas
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mamas
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zaidi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017147:Defibrillators, Implantable / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D004869:Equipment Safety / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D010138:Pacemaker, Artificial / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends
keywords: implantable cardiac device; implantable cardioverter defibrillator; magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); pacemaker