Are Penile Implants Safe in MRI? – Penile Implant Surgeons

Deciding to get a penile prosthesis is a serious choice, as there are permanent implants that can affect your life in a number of ways (almost all of them positive). Doing your research should include understanding exactly what this can mean for future medical procedures. Many men are concerned that getting a penile implant can prevent you from receiving MRIs, or at the very least, affect their ability to diagnose health conditions.

What is an MRI?

For those who don’t’ know, MRI stands for Magnetic Resonance Imaging¹. MRIs can be used for diagnostic purposes, but also to check up on how well treatments are going¹. MRIs use magnets and radio waves to create images of your body¹. The magnets that are used are very strong, and it is because of this that you cannot have any metal on your body. This will get immediately attracted to the magnets and can cause problems.

Although MRIs have a number of purposes, they can be incredibly helpful in diagnosing a number of problems around the groin area. This can include cancer, issues with blood vessels, or problems with your prostate¹. If you have a penile implant, you may at some point need an MRI for one or more of these issues.

So will an MRI affect my penile implant?

An MRI should not affect your penile implant. There have been a number of studies done on men with implants, to understand how they are affected by MRIs. The research has found that almost all patients experienced no issues². One patient with a semi-rigid implant did find that the rods twisted when he was in the MRI, but this was not uncomfortable or painful, and it did not damage the implant².

There are some implant models (such as the DuraPhase and the OmniPhase) that have metal components, which can interact with a 1.5-Tesla MR system³. Even so, this interaction is unlikely to cause any harm to the patient, based on the way that the machine is used³. These are also extremely old styles of implant, and no longer available today⁴. Therefore this becomes an issue for only those existing patients – men looking into getting a penile prosthesis don’t need to worry.

MRIs can still perform all their regular functions

Having a penile implant does not prevent MRIs from being able to perform diagnostic testing of the area. For example, MRIs are a very important tool diagnosing issues such as prostate cancer⁵. Having a penile implant does not get in the way of this at all, and you can still receive regular treatment or checkups.

MRIs can actually help to diagnose issues with your prosthesis

Some patients who receive a penile implant can experience problems, which may be hard to diagnose. An MRI is actually a really great way to be able to see what is going on. One study of patients experiencing issues found that an MRI has a higher successful diagnosis rate than a physical examination⁶. Not only are MRIs safe, but they can still be used at full functionality to determine if something is wrong with your implant.

In short – yes they are safe

It is totally fine to undergo an MRI with a penile implant. The majority of penile implants do not contain metal parts, so an MRI has no effect on them. Because of this, you are totally safe to have this procedure if you ever need to in the future. Even if you do have a certain type of penile implant that contains metal components, these have been tested, and MRIs are still safe. At most, they may feel a little uncomfortable, but they will not cause you any harm.

Even though it is safe to undergo an MRI procedure with a penile prosthesis with metal parts (or any prosthesis for that matter), you should still let medical staff know. They should already be aware of this, but they can talk to you more about any safety concerns you might have. You should also receive a letter that clearly states that your prosthesis is MRI-safe⁷. This should not be an issue for men considering an implant, as these are no longer available.

The penile implant also does not prevent medical professionals from identifying potential issues with the implant, or any other problems in the genital region.

References