Pacemaker technology has advanced rapidly over the last decade. A lot of everyday interference can be regarded as transient. The media tend to cover stories of relatively insignificant transient interference incurred by pacemaker wearers while many manuals gloss over the high risks, some potentially life-threatening. These include the reliability of pacemakers and the use of monopolar diathermy which can generate electromagnetic interference, potentially causing a pacemaker to malfunction.
American Radio Relay League2002Interference: Its Potential Effect on Pacemaker Systems (online) Available from: www.arrl.org/tis/info/pcmkr.html [Accessed 20 August 2008]
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency1996PTN No 61 Possible Interference or Interaction between Cellular Mobile Telephones (especially Digital GSM) and Implantable Pacemakers and Defibrillators (online) [no longer available]
9.
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency2002PTN No 90 Under-reporting of adverse incidents involving implantable pacemakers (IPGs) and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) to the Medical Devises Agency (MDA) (online) Available from: www.mhra.gov.uk/Publications/Safetywarnings/MedicalDeviceAlerts/CON008923 [Accessed 20 August 2008]
10.
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency2006Guidelines for the perioperative management of patients with implantable pacemakers or implantable cardioverter defibrillators, where the use of surgical diathermy/electrocautery is anticipated (online) [no longer available]
11.
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency2007Briefing on interference between personal MP3 players and implantable pacemakers and implantable defibrillators (online) Available from: www.mhra.gov.uk/NewsCentre/Pressreleases/CON2031181 [Accessed 20 August 2008]
