Why Leaving Leads in Neurostimulators is an Unsafe Action in Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Leaving the leads within the body after a neurostimulator-system removal does not mean the those people who have said-leads are safe to undergo an MR scan, no matter the MR system's given Magnetic Field Strength. There are several pertinent reasons, and all foregoing statements lend themselves to the realm of Electrical Engineering.

One of the underlying functions of a neurostimulator-system is that this system will serve as the "ground" for the electrical current within the leads. Here in this context, because the "intended" ground is no longer there, because of post-operation neurostimulator removal, if electrical current were to accumulate within the leads, the ground would end up being the body of the person who has said-leads. Therefore, electrical injury will happen if the leads withhold electrical current with no conventional-ground (i.e. the neurostimulator system).

Here then, the MR machine does not even have to be pushing RF waves into the patient for such electrical current within the leads to accumulate. Simply the action of placing the person on the table, and moving them into the Magnetic Bore will induce an electrical current within the leads because since the leads are conductors of electricity, and since the patient is orthogonal to the magnetic vector field of the Magnetic Bore, the delta x-axis movement from initial starting position to final resting position will induce an electromotive force (i.e. EMF) within the given conducting elements (i.e. the leads), thus forcing the accumulated EMF to be forced out of the conducting elements via the body; by placing and moving the patient's body orthogonal to the magnetic vector field, will generate electrical current within conducting elements within the patient's body due to the patient's body and the Magnetic Bore of the machine interacting with each other to form solenoid-behavior.