A new pacemaker system that can be used safely with MRI scanners has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. The device is produced by Medtronic Inc. Many patients with pacemakers avoid MRI scans because of the potential for the machines’ radiowaves to interfere with the live-saving device.
A special feature in the Revo MRI SureScan Pacing System can be turned on in order to prepare patients for an MRI procedure and reduces or eliminates potential interferences by the machines’ high magnetic field.
“Those patients who meet the parameters for the device will be able to maintain their critical cardiac therapy while benefiting from the precise diagnostic capability of an MRI,” said Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health.
