Concerns about MRI scan

First, may I thank the club and their regular contributors for all the advice and encouragement they offer for people like myself who spend most evenings on the internet reading the latest comments.Thank you all most sincerely.
I had a St.Judes 5826 Zephyr XL DR PM,fitted in October 2010 and after numerous problems everything seems to be working fine.However, I am now consulting a Maxillofacial specialist regarding a restriction in my parotid gland and to my horror, he said he requires a MRI scan before undertaking further treatment. Having read your site so often and remembering that my PM is not a surescan, I said that I could not have one. He said he would make enquiries and that there would be specialists standing by who could turn off the PM.I am petrified that the leads would still overheat. Am I right to be concerned. Pastel

2 Comments

not that easy

by Tracey_E - 2014-06-27 09:06:50

Yes you are absolutely right to be concerned. Leads heating is the main risk, not damage to the pm. There is more and more research showing that we can safely have mri's under controlled circumstances, but that doesn't mean we can go just anywhere and have it done. There are some members here who have safely had it done, you may be able to find the old posts. There is MUCH more to it than simply turning off the pm. Your dr sounds confused, they never turn it all the way off off, but they do put it in test mode when we have surgery. Surgery, not mri! Not at all the same thing. To be honest, I'm not sure I'd trust a dr who is so blase about it.

Bluntly ask the dr what the choice is if you cannot have an mri. I've had two health issues come up since I got my pm, we worked around it both times. It wasn't ideal and an mri would have been better, but we dealt. If it was life and death, if there were no other options, then I'd be willing to track down a facility who can safely do an mri on me, but for everything else, there's always a second choice.

no mri with pacemaker has to be ct

by rhymeandreason@knology.net - 2014-07-02 03:07:58

if you have a pacemaker yoy cannot have a mri because of its magnetic field. Hospital tricked me and slipped one in but won't no more. Jackie C.

You know you're wired when...

You name your daughter “Synchronicity”.

Member Quotes

I am active and healthy and have been given a second chance.