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HEALTH
After the death of a businessman in Santos, a doctor explains the risks of MRI
According to Dr. Antonio Carlos Matteoni, the exam only raises concerns in cases of patients with metal plates in the body
Published on October 28, 2024 at 10:53
Resonance device Credit: Disclosure/TV Brasil
The death of businessman Fábio Mocci Rodrigues Jardim, aged 42, in the city of Santos, on the coast of São Paulo, during an MRI of the skull left Brazil on alert for possible risks of carrying out the exam, widely carried out across the country. According to Dr. Antonio Carlos Matteoni, member of the Department of Radiology at New York University Medical Center, the procedure is safe, with the exception of cases in which the patient has metallic devices placed in the body.
The doctor explains that the magnetic field created by the device used in the exam can cause the devices to move in the patient’s body. “The most frequent risk that can occur is, for example, [haver a presença] of a plaque, but this would not lead to death,” highlights the radiologist, in an interview with CORREIO.
According to businessman Fábio’s family, they received information that he had suffered a massive heart attack, but the Death Verification Service (SVO) considered the case as a “suspicious death” and asked the Instituto Médio Legal (IML ) performed the necropsy. Although there is still no concrete report, Dr. Matteoni suggests the possibility of a reaction to claustrophobia.
“This patient may have had a heart attack due to claustrophobia and led to cardiorespiratory arrest,” he says. “It is very likely that perhaps claustrophobia could have led to a heart attack or that he did not have claustrophobia and it was just a coincidence. The MRI itself certainly has nothing to do with his death”, he argues.
According to Matteoni, another possibility that can be ruled out would be an allergy to gadolinium, the metal used in resonance machines, given the rarity of allergy rates to the chemical element. “I don’t know whether contrast media was used or not in his case, but it is extremely rare for it to cause an allergic reaction and you really don’t see reports of deaths or allergic reactions to gadolinium in the literature, it is an extremely safe contrast agent.” Other allergies would not lead to complications during the exam, which lasts 5 to 10 minutes or 20 to 30, depending on the equipment and purpose of the exam.
General practitioner Liz Cedraz reinforces the safety of the procedure by stating that no radiation is used when carrying out the exam. “In general, MRI is a safe exam, it does not involve radiation as it uses a magnetic field to form images”, he explains. “The biggest risks associated with the exam are allergic reactions (related to the use of contrast), if the patient has claustrophobia (due to the closed environment, noise during the exam), and if the patient has any metallic device, or projectile somewhere. of the body, as they can suffer interference or be moved by the action of the magnetic field created”, he highlights.
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