Continuous Monitoring of RF-Safety for Implantable MR-Conditional Devices

Ingmar Graesslin¹, Julia Weller¹, Peter Koken¹, Jouke Smink², Bjoern Annighoefer³, Sascha Krueger¹

The presence of an implantable active device (e.g. pacemaker or deep brain stimulator) usually represents a contraindication for an MR examination. A new non-invasive detection method of RF coupling with conductive parts of stationary devices, i.e. e.g. implanted devices, is proposed. The presence of such devices was detected reliably by the MR-system in real-time for a group of volunteers some holding a device near their body during scanning. The system even allowed detection of MR-conditional devices in the non-resonant, safe case, indicating an extremely high sensitivity.