Investigation of RF-Induced Heating of Active implantable Medical Devices with Shorted Leads Under 1.5T MRI

Motivation: In active implantable medical devices (AIMDs), electrical shorts may occur either between electrodes of two leads in multi-lead systems (inter-lead shorts), or within the AIMD header due to incomplete lead insertion (intra-lead shorts). Goal(s): Whether these shorts invalidate the originally-established MR safety condition for RF-induced heating?Approach: The RF-induced heating for three shorted-lead cases were investigated. Device heating models (transfer functions) and RF-induced heating were measured for 1.5T MR systems. Results: Though the intra-lead short case exhibited a similar transfer function (TF) and RF-induced heating to non-shorted leads, inter-lead shorts had significant impact on the RF-induced heating. Impact: This research improves MRI safety for patients with active implantable medical devices (AIMDs) by studying the effects of electrical shorts.