Those electronic devices and your heart L
ONDON: “The reality of modern living is that we are surrounded by multiple devices which communicate with each other wirelessly,” explains Mohammad Amin.
The eminent cardiologist from the prestigious Cardiac Centre, Bahrain presented his paper to his enthusiastic colleagues on the second day of the annual meeting of the European Society of Cardiologists, the most attended heart convention in the world.
“Problems can arise when this technology co-exists in the same environment as heart devices. Complete avoidance is impractical, so it’s important for patients to get advice before having those devices implanted. We could reassure our patients that the environment is safe so long as they stick to s few simple rules and remain vigilant for risks.”
Use of pacemakers and ICDs in Europe is rising. Data from the EUCOMED, the organization representing the European medical device industry show the number of pacemakers per million in habitants in Europe has rose to 923 in 2012 while the number of defibrillators rose to 167 from a mere 70 per million in 2005.
Dr. Dave Anthony Padilla, our home-grown cardiologist who trained in those devices, has no ready statistics for the Philippines but quick to emphasize that the awareness and acceptance of the devices are also rising.
Because cardiac electronic devices are able to sense electrical activity and use electromagnetic waves for communication, they are sensitive and susceptible to EMI or electromagnetic interference from surrounding radiation. While, it is true that modern cardiac devices have built-in features to protect them from interference, including hermetic shielding and filters designed to reject or block EMI, interference can still take place.
Thus, if the devices do detect EMIs, this results in either inhibition of pacing (i.e., no pacing even in a patient without his own rhythm which is life-threatening, asynchronous pacing (which does not take into account the patient's intrinsic or natural heart beats) or inappropriate ICD therapy (shocks because the device believes there is an arrhythmia), a warning issued by Dr. Haran Burri from the University Hospital of Geneva, Switzerland.
Device manufacturers and regulatory authorities currently recommend safety distances of 15 centimeters between pacemakers and mobile phones. While inappropriate ICD shocks and pacemaker inhibition have been associated with prolonged (several minutes) exposure to electromagnetic security systems (such as anti-shoplifting gates and metal detectors) such problems are rarely seen in exposures lasting for 10-15 seconds.
Dr. Chi-KeongChing of the National Heart Center, Singapore adds that "if scanning with a handheld metal detector is necessary, the patient himself/herself should warn the security staff not to hold the metal detector near the heart device any longer than necessary or ask for an alternative form of personal search."
While portable digital music devices as iPods and headsets which contain magnets, can interfere with cardiac devices, the risks are low, reassures D. Amin. The general recommendations are to keep media players and headsets at least 15 cm from the device and to avoid draping headphones around their necks over the device
What a relief then, that with care and caution, heart patients can live a full life in a hightech wired environment. Cheers!