Verification that a patient with an implantable medical system can undergo a magnetic resonance imaging scan

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10130282-B2
Application number	US-201013265160-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 28, 2010
Priority date	Apr 30, 2009
Publication date	Nov 20, 2018
Grant date	Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

Verification that an implantable medical system within a patient is MRI safe is provided. Several verifications may be performed such as verifying that the device and leads are of an MRI safe type, that the leads have adequate electrical integrity, that the device has entered an MRI safe mode, that the lead routing and device placement are MRI safe, and that the MRI settings of the MRI machine are safe for the implantable medical system. The result of these verifications may lead to a conclusion that the implantable medical system of interest is or is not MRI safe for a given MRI scan. An indication of this result may be output such as via a display so that an MRI technician can have some assurance as to whether to conduct the MRI scan.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of checking whether a magnetic resonance (MRI) image scan can be performed for a patient who has an implantable medical system, the method comprising:
establishing by an external device a telemetry communication session with the implantable medical system;
verifying by the external device that an implantable medical device of the implantable medical system is of a type that is acceptable for the MRI scan by sending a query to the implantable medical device via the telemetry communication session;
verifying by the external device that an implantable medical lead of the implantable medical system is of a type that is acceptable for the MRI scan;
providing by the external device an indication of whether the implantable medical system is acceptable for the MRI scan based on the verifying of the implantable medical device and the implantable medical lead;
analyzing by the external device MRI scan settings of an MRI machine by the external device taking measurements within the MM machine during an MRI scan by the MRI machine; and
providing by the external device an indication of whether the implantable medical system is acceptable for the MRI scan based on the analyzing of the MRI scan settings.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein verifying by the external device that the implantable medical device is of a type that is acceptable for the MRI scan comprises:
receiving at the external device a response to the query that includes information related to the type of the implantable medical device; and
analyzing the received information to determine whether the implantable medical device is of the type that is acceptable for the MRI scan.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the received information comprises MRI scan related settings.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the received information comprises an identification of the implantable medical device.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein verifying by the external device that the implantable medical lead is of a type that is acceptable for the MRI scan comprises:
sending a query from the external device to the implantable medical device;
receiving at the external device a response to the query that includes information related to the type of the implantable medical lead; and
analyzing the received information related to the type of the implantable medical lead to determine whether the implantable medical lead is of the type that is acceptable for the MRI scan.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the received information related to the type of the implantable medical lead comprises an identification of the implantable medical lead.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending by the external device a command for the implantable medical device to enter an MRI safe state.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising verifying by the external device that the implantable medical device has entered an MRI safe state.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising verifying by the external device that the implantable medical lead has adequate integrity by having impedance measurements within an acceptable range.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein when the verifying results in a conclusion that the implantable lead has at least one impedance measurement outside of the acceptable range, then storing by the external device an indication that the implantable medical lead lacks adequate integrity to be acceptable for an MRI scan.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising presenting allowable MRI scan settings for the implantable medical system.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising verifying by the external device that a route that the implantable medical lead takes within the patient is acceptable for an MRI scan.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising verifying by the external device that a placement of the implantable medical device within the patient is acceptable for an MRI scan.

14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising storing an indication of when the implantable medical device has entered the MRI safe state.

15. A method of checking whether a magnetic resonance (MRI) image scan can be performed for a patient who has an implantable medical system, the method comprising:
establishing by an external device a telemetry communication session with the implantable medical system;
verifying by the external device that the implantable medical device has entered an MRI safe state by communicating with the implantable medical device over the telemetry communication session;
providing by the external device an indication of whether the implantable medical system is acceptable for the MRI scan based on the verifying of the implantable medical device;
analyzing by the external device MRI scan settings of an MRI machine by the external device taking measurements within the MM machine during an MRI scan by the MRI machine; and
providing by the external device an indication of whether the implantable medical system is acceptable for the MRI scan based on the analyzing of the MRI scan settings.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising sending by the external device a command for the implantable medical device to enter the MRI safe state.

17. The method of claim 15 , further comprising verifying by the external device that the implantable medical lead has adequate integrity by lacking short circuits and open circuits and wherein providing by the external device an indication of whether the implantable medical system is acceptable for the MRI scan is further based on the verifying of the implantable medical lead.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein when the verifying results in a conclusion that the implantable lead has at least one short circuit or at least one open circuit, then storing by the external device an indication that the implantable medical lead lacks adequate integrity to be acceptable for an MRI scan.

19. The method of claim 15 , further comprising presenting allowable MRI scan settings for the implantable medical system.

20. The method of claim 15 , further comprising verifying by the external device that a route that the implantable medical lead takes within the patient is acceptable for an MRI scan and wherein providing by the external device an indication of whether the implantable medical system is acceptable for the MRI scan is further based on the verifying of the implantable medical lead.

21. The method of claim 15 , further comprising verifying by the external device that a placement of the implantable medical device within the patient is acceptable for an MRI scan.

22. A method of checking whether a magnetic resonance (MRI) image scan can be performed for a patient who has an implantable medical system, the method comprising:
establishing by an external device a telemetry communication session with the implantable medical system;
verifying by the external device that the implantable medical lead has adequate integrity by lacking short circuits and open circuits by communicating with the implantable medical device over the telemetry communication session;
providing by the external device an indication of whether the implantable medical system is acceptable for the MRI scan based on the verifying of the implantable medical lead;
analyzing by the external device MRI scan settings of an MRI machine by the external device taking measurements within the MM machine during an MRI scan by the MRI machine; and
providing by the external device an indication

Assignees

• Goetz Steven M
• Malekkhosravi Shahram
• Smith Todd V
• Malekkhosravi Kristin J
• Dixon Jeffrey R
• Medtronic Inc

Inventors

• Goetz Steven M
• Malekkhosravi Shahram
• Smith Todd V
• Malekkhosravi Kristin J
• Dixon Jeffrey R

Classifications

• A61N1/3718

  Monitoring of or protection against external electromagnetic fields or currents · CPC title

• A61N1/086

  Magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] compatible leads · CPC title

• A61B5/055 Primary

  involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging · CPC title

• G16H40/63

  for local operation · CPC title

• A61B5/0031

  Implanted circuitry · CPC title