Pacemakers in MRI for the Neuroradiologist.

Cardiac implantable electronic devices are frequently encountered in clinical practice in patients being screened for MR imaging examinations. Traditionally, the presence of these devices has been considered a contraindication to undergoing MR imaging. Growing evidence suggests that most of these patients can safely undergo an MR imaging examination if certain conditions are met. This document will review the relevant cardiac implantable electronic devices encountered in practice today, the background physics/technical factors related to scanning these devices, the multidisciplinary screening protocol used at our institution for scanning patients with implantable cardiac devices, and our experience in safely performing these examinations since 2010.

Prevalence and antibiotic resistance pattern of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus from an orthopaedic hospital in Nigeria.

Patients with surgical wounds have been reported to be at high risk of MRSA carriage and infection. The prevalence and antibiotic resistance pattern of this organism in the orthopaedic ward of Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Zaria-Nigeria, a 547-bed Nigerian hospital, were thus studied. A total of 185 isolates of Staphylococcus aureus were confirmed from 217 samples taken from the orthopaedic wards of the hospital using standard isolation methods. Out of these, 44 (23.8%) were from the wounds of patients and 70 (37.8%) from the skin. The remaining 65 (35.1%) and 6 (3.2%) were from their beds and the atmospheric air, respectively. Out of these, 33 (75%), 36 (51.4%), and 48 (73.8%) from wounds, skin, and bed, respectively, were found to be methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) using the disc-sensitive test methods. None was detected from the atmosphere. The antibiotic susceptibility pattern results showed the level of resistance to be ampicillin 100% in all the three sites, pefloxacin 90.9%, 72.2%, 66.7%, ceftriaxone 69.7%, 72.2%, 70.8%, gentamicin 54.5%, 52.8%, 37.5%, and ciprofloxacin 51.5%, 47.2%, 35.4% at the wound, skin, and bed sites, respectively. Results confirm that MRSA continues to pose a threat to the hospitalized patients, especially those with bone and wound infections.