MRI Fail (on me?)

Went to finally get my MRI of the heart Tuesday.   Full stop.   They realized new pacer had only been put in for 5 weeks and 5 days.   
 

came back at the 6 week mark two days later.   Got in the tube and found out in the first few seconds that I had forgotten about some shoulder surgery 30 years ago.  Apparently there was a small piece of metal about 2-3 inches away from my pacer that I was unaware of.   this is my guess.  I will pick up the surgical report on Tuesday to confirm.   
 

I feel like I've had an MRI of that shoulder when  I got diagnosed 6-7 years ago with a torn bicep tendon.   
 

i literally forgot I'd ever had shoulder surgery.   
 

of course I let them know quickly that I was feeling a "spark" in my shoulder.    Full stop.  
 

What a waste of everyone's time.    Weird part is they did an X-ray of my heart to make sure all the leads were still in place etc.  

I've for a PET stress test, an echo and a CAC coming up next week.    Hopefully that all goes smooth  

I've had so many surgeries in my life    Can't believe I forgot about this one    Dang it   

  Not sure if this is related or not but had an auto. Transmission sent today 9/1 and my estimated battery life dropped from 8 years initially to 5.   
 

I assume that has to do with me being 100% ventricular paced and my exercise?   Or did the MRI affect the battery?  

3 Comments

Battery

by piglet22 - 2024-09-01 12:50:52

I wouldn't read too much into battery voltage figures.

Important events like elective replacement are based on several consecutive readings, not single readings.

Occasional high current draws like transmissions can pull the battery down and then it recovers afterwards.

The analogue to digital process is steppy and not smooth like the needle on an old style Avo.

Towards battery depletion, there's a knee and then a relatively fast drop compared to the first few years.

It's a bit like the fuel range figure on my vehicle. It starts at 70 miles, I do a 20 mile trip, carefully and it gets back with still 70  showing.

The dangers of multiplying small changes by large constants.

It sounds as though the MRI scan was aborted within seconds

by Gemita - 2024-09-01 16:53:00

Tex, From your comments, it seems you were in the MRI scanner for a few seconds only before it was aborted, so my thoughts may not be valid.  Nonetheless take a look at the link, scroll down to Potential Effects of MRI on implantable devices, under Battery and read for yourself.

It confirms that magnetic interference or prior programming may result in high output asynchronous pacing throughout the scan (which clearly in your case wasn’t that long).  Current drain during MRI can be significant. 

It is possible that your battery indicator will give a better reading on the next transmission, but if it doesn’t, I would ask your team for an explanation.  They may be able to see from your data whether on the day of your MRI there was any significant change in battery output.   However the battery may recover now that your settings have been returned to normal, if indeed this was the case?  They also checked my husband's pacemaker leads after his MRI to make sure that they had stayed in place so this can be normal.

On the other hand I have to say my battery indicator fluctuated widely especially in the first few years following implant.  Now that I have only about 2 years battery remaining, the battery indicator is becoming more reliable and dropping consistently.

Being 100% ventricular paced and any exercise you may have done should not have caused such a rapid drop in battery power after only 6 weeks of pacing, but as Piglet has confirmed this is just one reading which may not be accurate?

https://www.britishcardiovascularsociety.org/resources/editorials/articles/magnetic-resonance-imaging-in-patients-with-cardiac-implantable-electronic-devices-current-recommendations

Thanks

by Tex61 - 2024-09-02 10:08:56

👍🏻

You know you're wired when...

Your pacemaker interferes with your electronic scale.

Member Quotes

I've seen many posts about people being concerned about exercise after having a device so thought I would let you know that yesterday I raced my first marathon since having my pacemaker fitted in fall 2004.