In the past years many Authors have claimed that skin tattoos might expose patients to safety issues related to thermic effects of inks, when undergoing MRI examinations. However, as it is thought that, after an initial phase from tattoo deposition, the solvent tends to evaporate, the most appropriate parameters to take into account when analyzing the thermic effects of tattoos appear to be the ones of pigments alone.

The pigments are injected into the dermis forming a layer which, after solvent’s evaporation, is estimated to have a 0,1 mm thikness. 

Our scope was to evaluate the possible thermic effects produced by MR tomography on tattooed patients, giving relevance to thermic parameters of pigments alone.