MUNSTER – Cardiologists at Community Hospital have announced they are among the first in Northwest Indiana to begin implanting MRI compatible pacemakers in patients. The Medtronic Revo MRI Surescan device is safe for use around or in magnetic resonance imaging equipment.
“It has been estimated that up to 50 percent of patients with standard cardiac rhythm devices who need an MRI aren’t able to get one,” said Mark Mitchell, a cardiac electrophysiologist. Until now, if patients required whole body imaging, computerized axial tomography (CT) scans were the only acceptable alternative, but CT scans use low-dose radiation to produce images which aren’t high definition.
About 1.5 million Americans have pacemakers, devices that send electrical pulses to the heart to help maintain a regular rhythm, according to Medtronic, which manufactures the devices.
