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A national survey of attitudes towards the use of MRI in patients known to have intracranial aneurysm clips

Department of Neuroradiology, The Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Lower Lane, Fazakerley, Liverpool L9 7LJ, UK

The objective of this study was to determine the attitudes and practice of neuroradiology centres across the UK regarding the use of MRI in patients known to have intracranial aneurysm clips. A postal survey comprising three questions and a comments section was sent to 35 neuroradiology centres across the UK. There were 32 (91%) respondents to the single questionnaire. 16 (50%) respondents said that they would not consider performing MRI on a patient with an intracranial aneurysm clip. Of the remaining 50%, all said that identification of the clip type and assurance of its safety would be needed prior to scanning the patient. The magnetic strength of the system did not appear to affect the decision regarding whether or not to perform MRI on such patients. There was a variation in attitude towards the use of MRI in such patients between different regions. Neuroradiology centres are equally divided in their attitude and practice about whether it is safe to use MR to image a patient known to have an intracranial aneurysm clip. This is most probably due to the conflicting literature, as well as uncertainty about the identification and ferromagnetic properties of individual clips.