My wife had an aneurysm clip surgery (brain sensory part on right temporal) almost 3 years ago and after a major seizure and common flu a year ago, she has been having progressive chronic paresthesia pain on one side of her body and has recently been advised by a neurosurgeon to do a MRI for further diagnosis. The problem now is she has fear of the MRI may worsen her pain if her titanium clip move slightly as she understand and believes that even a titanium aneurysm clip can still move within a certain range under a MRI machine. Can i seek any advice here how can I help to remove her fear so that she is able to get the right diagnosis and treatment asap since the neurosurgeon explanation is not convincing enough for her. Maybe if anyone in this forum who has a titanium aneurysm clip and pain who had gone through mri test can share your experience. Thanks a lot.
I've undergone two seperate clippings, one in 1998 and another in 2010, where both times titanium clips were used. I went in for an MRI for a seperate issue and the techs wouldn't touch me until I could tell them the exact name/type of the clips that had been used on me in both procedures. So I contacted both surgeons office's and got the info, went back and had the MRI, no problem. The MRI Tech had a book that she referenced and looked up the type of clips that I had before she would proceed, and like I said there was absolutely no problem. Best of luck ! Peace, Janet
I've had a MRI/MRA since my clipping procedure last year and my titanium clip did not move. I've had a CTA done in December and the clip is still intact. Best of luck to your wife!
The "Gold Standard" for testing whether a clip is reactive to magnetic fields is a MRI. This usually was done in the early days of the titanium clip. Because of the number of rejects, pre testing was tightened. I can certainly understand your wife's concerns because prior to 2000 this could occur.
I can suggest one method to help put your wife at ease. By using a small magnet, with your wife's permission, you or she can pass the magnetic over the area where the clip is located (assuming you can identify it from previous radiology scans). If she is able to feel tingling or any discomfort in the surrounding area, then she might not want to have the MRI and opt for a CT scan instead. If you can find a similar looking piece of aluminum (not aluminum foil) metal it would substitute for a sham magnet because aluminum will not react in a magnetic field. Most all other metals will react however. The reason you would want to do this is to make sure a placebo effect does not occur. By doing this it should help reassure her. If you try it, let me know how it works for her.
Luckily we managed to locate back the same neurosurgeon who did the craniotomy for my wife previously as he has moved to another hospital in Singapore and got him to certify that the aneurysm clip he used was made of titanium and MRI friendly.
Thanks for sharing your experience in your MRI screening and it certainly sounds more assuring for us!
Nice to know u. Thanks for your invaluable & interesting advice! We just tried the simple test which you suggested as we know roughly where is the area of her clipping. She did not feel any discomfort so far after using the small magnet to glide slowly along the surface of her scalp.
I hope this small experiment will give her more reassurance.
At the same time we intend to counter check with the radiologist of the hospital which we are planning to perform the MRI that their MR system is up to 1.5 Tesla which I understand that is the safety tolerance limit of the Sugita aneurysm clip specs. Do you think this is logical to request?
Great plan and I'm glad to hear she had no discomfort. The 1.5 tesla equipment would certainly be safer then the more powerful 3.0 tesla MRI's. I'd be surprised if the Radiologist would be familiar with the tolerances of clips but it never hurts to ask questions. I think she'll do great.
We finally went through the MRI today and everything went well! The MR machine is 1.5 Tesla and her clip is certified to last till 3. She did not feel any discomfort except have to endure her pain and lie down for 2 long hrs! Will get the results tomorrow and hopefully will be able to find out the cause of her paresthesia pain.