An in vitro assessment of MRI issues at 3-Tesla for antimicrobial, silver-containing wound dressings

Although no reports of adverse events have been published to date, the presence of metallic dressing ingredients may present an magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) safety concern for patients using silver-containing wound dressings. The purpose of this in vitro study was to test magnetic field interactions (ie, translational attraction and torque), heating, artifacts, and conductivity (ie, electrical resistance) when using MRI at 3-Tesla for two (nonborder and border) silver-containing wound dressings. The results indicated the dressings displayed no magnetic field interactions (deflection angle 0˚; no torque), and in each case, MRI-related heating effects were at the same levels as the background temperature increases (ie, <1.8˚C). The dressings created extremely subtle artifacts (one-for-one relationship) on the MR images. With regard to the conductivity assessments, the average resistance values were 20 kOhm and 1.1 kOhm, respectively, for the nonborder and border wound dressings, which were acceptable levels. The findings show the two silver-containing wound dressings tested will not pose hazards or risks to patients and, thus, are considered "MR safe" according to the current labeling terminology used for medical products, and each dressing may be left in place when a patient undergoes an MRI examination. To date, only a hydrofiber silver-containing dressing has been tested for MRI safety. Because of potential variances in material characteristics, MRI test results are specific to the dressings tested and cannot be applied to other products. Future studies to define the level of silver concentration in dressings that may pose a hazard for performing an MRI are warranted.