title: Magnetic resonance examination of patients with implanted pacemakers: An evaluation of magnetic field gradients slew rate.
abstract: Performing safe magnetic resonance imaging of patients with "MR conditional" pacemakers needs to meet some specific restrictions. One of these is related to the slew rate (SR) parameter, defined as the speed of magnetic field gradients rising up to their required strengths. Unfortunately, SR values cannot be easily checked at the tomograph console. The present work provides an accurate evaluation of the maximum SR for a set of widely used clinical MR sequences. The experimental approach is based on indirect measurement of time-varying spatial magnetic field gradients. All MR sequences evaluated match safety SR prescriptions. Moreover, an appropriate choice of sequence scan parameters defines some optimized scan protocols tailored for the tomograph considered in the present study. Bioelectromagnetics. 38:307-314, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, APSS S. Chiara Hospital, Trento, Italy.
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Trevisan
authors.affiliation: Postgraduate School of Medical Physics, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Gloria
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Miori
authors.affiliation: General Electric Medical Systems, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Armando
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Correale
authors.affiliation: General Electric Medical Systems, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Davide
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Libralon
mesh_terms: D004869:Equipment Safety; D006801:Humans; D060526:Magnetic Fields; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D010138:Pacemaker, Artificial
keywords: MR; gradients; implanted electrical devices; safety evaluation; slew rate