Your Good Health: MRI a no-go for patient with shrapnel in skull

Dear Dr. Roach: I have a 3 mm piece of shrapnel lodged in my skull bone. This is a result of military action back in 1967. A recent X-ray continues to show the shrapnel after all these years. I would say that the piece is half in and half out of the skull bone.

Should I have the shrapnel removed to allow for a future MRI? Although doctors tell me that a CT scan is as good as an MRI, I believe an MRI is always the better option. Or if I need an MRI, can I leave the shrapnel in place?Thank you for your service. While it is true that MRIs have many advantages over CT scans for some purposes, a CT scan is better for some medical indications and nearly as good for most.

Modern pacemakers are made with materials that are safer to use in an MRI scanner. A 2020 review of MRI scans done on people with older pacemakers found that there were no complications to the patients or devices, so MRI scans can typically be performed on people with pacemakers.

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