Implantable medical devices may be used to deliver therapy to patients to treat a variety of symptoms or conditions such as chronic pain, tremor, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, depression, urinary or fecal incontinence, sexual dysfunction, obesity, or gastroparesis. For example, an implantable medical device may deliver neurostimulation therapy via leads that include electrodes located proximate to the spinal cord, pelvic nerves, peripheral nerves, the stomach or other gastrointestinal organs, or within the brain of a patient. Other examples of implantable medical devices include implantable medical devices configured to deliver electrical stimulation for cardiac therapy, such as cardiac pacing, cardioversion/defibrillation, resynchronization, or the like.
In general, an implantable medical device may deliver electrical stimulation therapy in the form of electrical signals such as pulses or other waveforms via one or more electrodes carried by one or more implantable leads. Many implantable medical devices include metallic components, such as a housing, conductors, electrodes, and the like. For some implantable medical devices, these metallic components may make a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedure undesirable. For example, MRI imaging produces radio frequency (RF) energy that may interact with some of the metallic components of the implanted medical device.