MRI Safety with Implanted Pain Management Devices: A Comprehensive Guide

Although magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, can give doctors important diagnostic information, patients with implanted morphine pumps or other devices may need to avoid MRI procedures.

MRI

• An MRI scanner generates a powerful magnetic field, instead of the radiation used by X-ray methods, to reveal soft-tissue abnormalities within the patient's body.

Morphine Pump

• A morphine pump, also called a "spinal infusion pump," injects continuous painkiller medication through a catheter directly into the spinal fluid of patients who cannot control their pain through traditional methods, according to MedCentral Health System.

MRI and Implants

• According to the UCSF Department of Radiology &Biomedical Imaging, patients with drug infusion pumps or similar devices should avoid MRI scans because the scans could affect the pump's magnetic components and programming.

Emergency Exceptions

• Whereas UCSF states that morphine pump recipients should absolutely not undergo MRI procedures, the MedCentral Health System website states that in an emergency, technicians may decide to follow special protocols to perform an MRI on such a patient.

Considerations

• Infusion pumps make up just one category of implantable devices that can cause problems during an MRI scan. Patients with pacemakers could die of an MRI-induced malfunction.