Hi colleagues,
a few weeks ago I had a discussion with our university
safety commissioner. Normally this is always a very delicate
business: one careless word can mean years of trouble.
However, this time he surprised me with a new information
(at least for me! - although it is already from 2000) he
had found in the internet:
a clinical study performed on an "in vitro model" (pacemakers
in a vessel with salt water, plus "in vivo": 55 patients with
pacemakers (44 different models) in a 0.5 T MR tomograph.
Result: no adverse effects nor even the slightest deviation
in the pacemaker parameters could be detected! Admitted,
the pacemakers were set on "asynchronous mode" (i.e., a
fixed stimulation rate) to let them run more stable.
but at least here is a number (0.5 T = 5000 Gauss)
with some reference (that can be quoted!)that it is safe.
And there is even a website discussing the results in German
(www.herzschrittmacherpatient.de).
Our commissioner was very pleased with this and will put
it in his next report, when talking about the "safety limit"
of 5 Gauss that we are obeying.
ah yes, the source is:
"MR imaging and cardiac pacemakers: in-vitro evaluation and in-vivo
studies in 51 patients at 0.5 T."
Sommer T, Vahlhaus C, Lauck G, von Smekal A, Reinke M, Hofer U, Block W,
Traber F, Schneider C, Gieseke J, Jung W, Schild H.
Radiology. 2000 Jun;215(3):869-79.
hope you might find this useful,
gg
--
==========================================
PD Dr. Gerd Gemmecker
Department Chemie, Organische Chemie II
TU Muenchen
Lichtenbergstr. 4
D-85747 Garching
Germany
Tel. +49 (89) 289-13308
Fax +49 (89) 289-13210
e-mail: Gerd.Gemmecker_at_ch.tum.de
Internet: http://www.org.chemie.tu-muenchen.de/people/gg
Received on Mon May 03 2004 - 10:56:04 MST