PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - G P Teitelbaum
AU  - M C Lin
AU  - A T Watanabe
AU  - J F Norfray
AU  - T I Young
AU  - W G Bradley, Jr
TI  - Ferromagnetism and MR imaging: safety of carotid vascular clamps.
DP  - 1990 Mar 01
TA  - American Journal of Neuroradiology
PG  - 267--272
VI  - 11
IP  - 2
4099  - http://www.ajnr.org/content/11/2/267.short
4100  - http://www.ajnr.org/content/11/2/267.full
SO  - Am. J. Neuroradiol.1990 Mar 01; 11
AB  - Metallic extracranial carotid vascular clamps of the Selverstone, Crutchfield, Poppen-Blaylock, Salibi, Kindt, and tantalum varieties have been placed for treatment of large, giant, or inoperable intracranial aneurysms. To ascertain what adverse effect, if any, MR imaging would have on these clamps, magnetic deflection at 1.5 T was measured for various carotid clamps. Marked magnetic deflection (and torque) was displayed by stainless steel Poppen-Blaylock clamps. Relatively mild magnetic deflection was displayed by the stainless steel Selverstone, Salibi, Crutchfield, and Kindt clamps. Three patients with previously placed carotid clamps (two Selverstone, one Salibi) and one patient with a nonferromagnetic tantalum carotid clip had cranial or cervical MR studies at field strengths ranging from 0.35 to 0.60 T. No patient experienced any discomfort or neurologic sequelae as a result of MR imaging. Although the ferromagnetic clamps created severe "black-hole" artifacts and image distortion within the cervical and facial regions, no significant image degradation was apparent during spin-echo imaging of the brain. The tantalum clip created a far smaller MR artifact than did ferromagnetic clamps and allowed effective spin-echo and gradient-echo imaging in the cervical region. Our findings indicate that most patients with carotid vascular clamps (and nonferromagnetic clips) can probably be imaged safely with MR.