The electromagnetic field generated by metal detectors and antitheft systems in airports and stores occasionally may cause problems with pacemakers and other implanted medical devices, says a recent warning from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The FDA notified cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons, neurologists, neurosurgeons, and emergency medicine physicians that the agency had received 44 adverse event reports during the past decade describing instances when such security systems apparently interfered with the normal function of pacemakers, implantable cardioverter/defibrillators (ICDs), and spinal cord stimulators. Similar reports also have been described in the medical literature.
In 18 cases reported to the FDA, patients with pacemakers experienced interference from security systems, resulting in shifts in pacing rate, presyncope and syncope, chest pain, and other responses.
Nine reports involved patients with ICDs. Two patients were inappropriately shocked—one after leaning against a store's antitheft system, the other while being scanned with a . . . [Full Text of this Article]
