Cardiac Arrest During MRI Highlights the Importance of Patient Monitoring
Cardiac Arrest During MRI Highlights the Importance of Patient Monitoring
Source: MDPI-
Health Imaging – Written by Hannah Murphy
Published: April 4, 2025
1. A 65-year-old man with diabetes and hypertension suffered a cardiac arrest during a brainstem MRI.
2. He had been hospitalized for symptoms of acute ischemic stroke, including dizziness, headache, nausea, and motor decline.
3. Initial imaging showed occlusion of the right vertebral artery and ischemic changes, but normal cerebral blood flow.
4. Six hours later, a follow-up MRI was performed due to worsening symptoms.
5. During the MRA sequence, the technician noticed a loss of arterial blood flow signals, initially misattributed to a technical malfunction.
6. Upon re-scanning and seeing the same result, the tech checked on the patient and discovered he was in cardiac arrest.
7. CPR was initiated, and spontaneous circulation was restored after around 10 minutes.
8. The patient suffered aspiration and hypoxic encephalopathy and required one month in ICU before transfer to another facility.
9. It’s estimated the arrest occurred about 10 minutes into the scan.
10. The case underscores the rare but critical risk of cardiac arrest during MRI and the need for continuous ECG and oxygen saturation monitoring, especially in high-risk patients.
11. Real-time evaluation of MRI data and interruption of scans when abnormalities arise may improve outcomes.
12. The report was published in Cureus, authored by Hiroyuki Tokue and colleagues from Gunma University, Japan.
