DNA Damages on Blood Cells After Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Introduction: Along with the increased use of cardiac imaging at clinics there is increased attention to the potential risks related to the methods used like magnetic resonance (MR) and it cannot be ruled out that MR can alter DNA structure. The aim of this review is to assess the impact of routine cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) scanning on DNA damages in human T lymphocytes.   Materials and Methods: The study was a systematic review for assessment of DNA damages on human T lymphocytes after CMR, where relevant articles of base such as Google Scholar, Scopus, Elsevier and PubMed with the key words of cardiac magnetic resonance, DNA damage and lymphocytes, in years 2012 to 2017 were searched and analyzed. Results: CMR imaging requires some of the strongest and fastest switching electromagnetic gradients available in MR, exposing the patients to the highest accepted energy levels. Fiechter et al. showed significant DNA damage in patient T lymphocytes as soon as 1 or 2 hours post CMR. Several studies reported an immediate post-MRI increase of histone H2AX phosphorylation (γ-H2AX) in lymphocytes, a marker of DNA double-strand breaks Conclusion: Our study proved the association between CMR scanning and DNA DSBs in T lymphocytes but the cellular mechanism is not known and may be different from that of radiation. Nonetheless, there have been limited numbers of investigations which examined whether in vitro and/or in vivo exposure of cells to electromagnetic fields used in MRI can cause significantly excess genetic damage. So further studies are necessary in more detail.