iPod can distrupt cardiac pacemakers
mongabay.com
May 11, 2007
An iPod can tigger monitoring malfunctions in cardiac pacemakers due to electromagnetic interference, reports a study presented by a 17-year-old school student to a group of heart specialists at a meeting of the Heart Rhythm Society in Denver, Colorado.
Jay Thaker, lead author of the study and a student at Okemos High School in Okemos, Michigan, found that an iPod positioned 5 cm (2 in) inches from the chest of a patient fitted with a pacemaker caused electrical interference in 50 percent of devices. Some pacemakers seem to be effected even at a distance of 40 cm (18 inches).
Thaker will next look at the effects of iPods on implanted cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs).
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