Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging safety following percutaneous coronary intervention

In the first 8 weeks after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), possible negative interactions exist between the cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging environment and the weakly ferromagnetic material in coronary stents. There are circumstances when CMR would be indicated shortly following PCI, such as acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The purpose of this study is to demonstrate CMR safety shortly following stent PCI in AMI patients. We performed a retrospective analysis of safety data in AMI patients with recently placed coronary artery stents enrolled in a multi-center phase II trial for gadoversetamide. Patients underwent 1.5 T CMR within 16 days of PCI. Vital signs (blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, and body temperature) and ECGs were taken pre-CMR, 1, 2, and 24 h post-CMR. Any major adverse cardiac event (MACE) or other serious adverse events in the first 24 h after MRI were recorded. There were 258 stents in 211 AMI patients. The mean delay to CMR following PCI was 6.5 ± 4 days, with 62 patients (29 %) receiving CMR within 3 days and 132 patients (63 %) within 1 week. Patients showed no significant vital sign changes following CMR. Ten patients (4.7 %) showed mild, transient ECG changes. Within the 24-h follow-up group, 4 patients (1.9 %) had moderate to severe events, including chest pain (1) and elevated cardiac enzymes (1), resolving in 24 h; heart failure (1) and ischemic stroke (1). There were no deaths. This study demonstrates fewer MACE in AMI patients undergoing 1.5 T CMR within 16 days of stent placement in comparison to post-stent event rate reported in the literature. This study adds to the CMR after stent PCI safety profile suggested by previous studies and is the largest and first study that uses multicenter data to assess stent safety following CMR examination.