Medindia LOGIN REGISTER
Medindia

Hand-held Metal Detectors Probably Safe With Heart Devices

by Dr. Trupti Shirole on Nov 1 2011 7:51 PM

 Hand-held Metal Detectors Probably Safe With Heart Devices
A European study says that security screening with hand-held metal detectors is most likely safe for people with pacemakers and implantable defibrillators. These devices help the heart beat regularly. There have been reports about magnetic fields produced by metal detectors interfering with the function of these devices.
During the study, researchers swiped two metal dectectors that were set to the strongest setting each for 30seconds on patients with pacemakers made by 11 different companies and implantable defibrillators made by 7 different companies. An electrocardiogram ensured whether the heart rate was normal. They also checked if there were problems with the programing of the devices. While carrying out this experiment on 388 subjects the reseachers did not note anything unusual.

Study author Clemens Jilek of the German Heart Center Munich said, "With the wide variety of rhythm devices we tested, we have not seen any interference between two hand-held metal detectors that are broadly available worldwide. Our conclusion would be that screening procedures with a normal, available hand-held metal detector are safe."

At the same time Jilek and his colleagues have cautioned that the findings do not definitively prove that the metal detectors are safe to use with all heart devices. The study has been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Source-Medindia


Advertisement