Absence of adverse outcomes after magnetic resonance imaging early after stent placement for acute myocardial infarction: A preliminary sturdy

Previous studies have documented the safety of magnetic resonance imaging ( MRI) of stents in vitro, when placed in animals in vivo, and in patients af ter elective stent placement. The safety of imaging patients with stents ea rly after myocardial infarction (MI) has not been examined. We studied 13 p atients in an MRI study of myocardial viability on day 3 +/- 1 after stent placement for acute MI. No patient had any clinical events in the early pos t-MI period, and only 1 of 13 patients demonstrated in-stent restenosis wit h a mean follow-up of 7 +/- 2 months. For comparison, a group of 17 patient s studied concurrently at Allegheny General Hospital as part of the Stent P AMI study, without undergoing MRI, suffered two early deaths and three epis odes of in-stent restenosis within 6 months. Based on a review of the liter ature and this preliminary study, recent stent placement for acute MI shoul d not be considered a contraindication to MRI.