I have a large 10 year old black and grey tattoo on my lower back, and
I needed to have an MRI on the exact same area because there is a
hemangiamona there. During the MRI my tattoo got warm so we stopped the
MRI. 15 minutes later I was experiencing tachycardia , high blood
pressure, and had a terrible metallic taste in my mouth. the symptoms,
including some full body flushing, continued for a few days. my dr
thinks it is panic attacks, which is totally possible, but i’ve had no
history of panic attacks and have had multiple MRIs of different body
parts.
Is it possible that the ink from the tattoo got into my bloodstream if
it was destabilized by the MRI? have you ever heard of any really
adverse MRI/Tattoo stories outside of tattoos simply getting hot? I am
just wondering if there have been any instances of really extreme
reactions. The tattoo is slightly less than 10 years old, would ink that young have
less metal or iron oxide than newer inks? i have one on my stomach in
the same place which is also black and is about 6 years old.
is it possible this was an extreme allergic reaction? all symptoms
stopped about a week after the MRI was performed.
any help would be greatly appreciated because this whole experience
has been very odd.
Doctor Joshua’s Answer:
You describe a very rare, but possible complication.
Tattoo ink may contain metallic residue, which could result in heating in a strong magnetic field such as an MRI. Especially tattoos with large quantities of very dark ink, such as jet black, may contain such amounts of metal that would heat up in MRI. Modern tattoos contain less metal residue than older tattoos. Some cases of tattoo heating during MRI imaging have been reported in the literature (see references below).
The biggest risk for heating appears to occur with very dark, thick tattoos that contain a circular, or loop-like, form. A loop containing metal residue becomes an induction loop inside a magnetic field, leading to rise in temperature.
Tobe and coworkers published a report in the Journal of Magnetic resonance Imaging in 2002, of their study in which 135 patients with tattoos undergoing MRI were surveyed. Two of these patients had minor complications of tingling or burning sensations.
It may still be possible for you to have the MRI done. Applying cool compresses or ice packs over the tattoo for the duration of the MRI may help. Also, a lower magnetic field MRI machine might be considered; if a 1.5 Tesla machine (quite common) causes complications, a 0.23 Tesla machine, for instance, might not. You will need to discuss this issue with the radiologist and the resident physicist.
As for your symptoms of metallic taste in mouth, tachycardia and flushing, I cannot say for sure but I find it unlikely that they were caused by any toxicity or adverse substance entering the bloodstream. I would tend to agree with your doctor that such symptoms could well be due to an acute stress reaction to the incident. I wouldn’t worry about it too much, especially as the symptoms have now resolved.
Literature References:
AJR 2000; 174:1795
[I]Tattoo-Induced Skin Burn During MR Imaging
[/I]William A. Wagle and Martin Smith
LINK: http://www.ajronline.org/cgi/content/full/174/6/1795
AJR 2004; 183:541
[I]Tattoos and MRI
[/I]Savithiri Ratnapalan, Mark Greenberg and Derek Armstrong
LINK:http://www.ajronline.org/cgi/content/full/183/2/541
Tope WD, Shellock FG. Magnetic resonance imaging and permanent cosmetics (tattoos): survey of complications and adverse events. J Magn Reson Imaging 2002;15:180 -184
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