• Jose De Andres, Vicente Villanueva, Stefano Palmisani, German Cerda-Olmedo, Maria Dolores Lopez-Alarcon, Vicente Monsalve, Ana Minguez, and Vicente Martinez-Sanjuan.
• FIPP, Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care, and Pain Management, Valencia University General Hospital, Avda. Tres Cruces s/n, 46014 Valencia, Spain. deandres_jos@gva.es
• Anesth. Analg.. 2011 May 1;112(5):1124-9.

BackgroundIt is common clinical practice to perform magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with indwelling programmable intrathecal drug delivery (IDD) systems, although the safety of the procedure has never been documented. We performed a single-center, 3-year, prospective evaluation in patients with a programmable implanted IDD to assess patient discomfort, IDD technical failures, and adverse effects during and after exposure to MRI.MethodsForty-three consecutive patients with an implanted programmable IDD system (SynchroMed® EL Implantable Infusion Pump, Model 8626L-18, and SynchroMed® II Model 8637-20, 8637-40; Medtronic, Inc., Minneapolis, MN) requiring a scheduled MRI evaluation were studied during a 3-year period. All MRI scans were performed with a 1.5-tesla clinical use magnet and a specific absorption rate of no more than 0.9 W/kg. Radiograph control was used to confirm postexposure pump rotor movement and detect system dislocations. IDD system failures, patient satisfaction, and discomfort were recorded.ResultsNone of the patients experienced signs of drug overinfusion that could lead to hemodynamic, respiratory, or neurologic alterations. Radiologic evaluation after MRI revealed no spatial displacements of the intrathecal catheter tip or body pump, and programmer telemetry confirmed the infusion recovery. Patients' satisfaction after the procedure was high.ConclusionPerforming an MRI scan with the proposed protocol in patients with an implanted Medtronic programmable IDD system resulted in virtually no technical or medical complications.© 2011 International Anesthesia Research Society

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