“iPods can cause cardiac implantable pacemakers to malfunction by interfering with the electromagnetic equipment monitoring the heart, according to a study presented by a 17-year-old high school student to a meeting of heart specialists on Thursday,” Debra Sherman reports for Reuters.
“The study tested the effect of the portable music devices on 100 patients, whose mean age was 77, outfitted with pacemakers. Electrical interference was detected half of the time when the iPod was held just 2 inches from the patient’s chest for 5 to 10 seconds,” Sherman reports.
“The study did not examine any portable music devices other than iPods, which are made by Apple Inc.,” Sherman reports.
MacDailyNews Take: Well, isn’t that conveeeenient? For safety’s sake, you’ll probably want to keep iPod also-rans away from pacemakers, too.
Sherman continues, “Jay Thaker, lead author of the study and a student at Okemos High School in Okemos, Michigan, concluded that iPod interference can lead physicians to misdiagnose actual heart function. Thaker, whose father is an electrophysiologist and whose mother is a rheumatologist, said he asked his dad about a potential interaction between pacemakers and iPods.”
“‘We looked online but didn’t see anything. Then, one of his patients asked him if there would be a problem, so (my father) put me in touch with Dr. Krit (Jongnarangsin),’ Thaker said in a telephone interview,” Sherman reports.
Sherman, “Jongnarangsin, a long-time friend of Thaker’s father, is the senior author of the study and an assistant professor in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Michigan. ‘Most pacemaker patients are not iPod users,’ Jongnarangsin said. For that reason, he said, it is unclear how often iPods cause misdiagnosis. ‘This needs to be studied more,’ Jongnarangsin added.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: This is actually a valuable study. Imagine an iPod shuffle clipped to the shirt or an iPod or iPod nano in a shirt pocket right over a pacemaker!
The American Heart Association recommends:
If you have an artificial pacemaker, be aware of your surroundings and the devices that may interfere with pulse generators:
Home appliances
• CB radios, electric drills, electric blankets, electric shavers, ham radios, heating pads, metal detectors, microwave ovens, TV transmitters and remote control TV changers, in general, have not been shown to damage pacemaker pulse generators, change pacing rates or totally inhibit pacemaker output.
• Several of these devices have a remote potential to cause interference by occasionally inhibiting a single beat. However, most people can continue to use these devices without significant worry about damage or interference with their pacemakers.
• Power-generating equipment, arc welding equipment and powerful magnets (as in medical devices, heavy equipment or motors) can inhibit pulse generators. Patients who work with or near such equipment should know that their pacemakers may not work properly in those conditions.
Cellphones
• Cellphones available in the United States (less than 3 watts) don’t seem to damage pulse generators or affect how the pacemaker works.
• Technology is rapidly changing as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is making new frequencies available. Newer cellphones using these new frequencies might make pacemakers less reliable. A group of cellphone companies is studying that possibility.
Medical equipment
• Carry a wallet I.D. card with you. Equipment used by doctors and dentists can affect your pacemaker, so tell them you have one.
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses a powerful magnet to produce images of internal organs and functions. Metal objects are attracted to the magnet and are normally not allowed near MRI machines. The magnet can interrupt the pacing and inhibit the output of pacemakers. If MRI must be done, the pacemaker output in some models can be reprogrammed. Discuss with your doctor the possible risks and benefits before you undergo MRI scanning.
• Extracorporeal shock-wave lithotripsy (ESWL) is a noninvasive treatment that uses hydraulic shocks to dissolve kidney stones. This procedure is safe for most pacemaker patients, with some reprogramming of the pacing. You’ll need careful follow-up after the procedure and for several months to be sure your unit is working properly. Patients with certain kinds of pacemakers implanted in the abdomen should avoid ESWL. Discuss your specific case with your doctor before and after the treatment.
• Radiofrequency (RF) ablation uses radio waves to manage a wide variety of arrhythmias. Recent studies of patients with implanted pacing systems measured the units before, during and after RF catheter ablation. They showed that most permanent pacemakers aren’t adversely affected by radio frequencies during catheter ablation. A variety of changes in your pacemaker can occur during and after the treatment. Your doctor should carefully evaluate your pacing system after the procedure.
• Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) is used to relieve acute or chronic pain. Several electrodes are placed on the skin and connected to a pulse generator. Most studies have shown that TENS rarely inhibits bipolar pacing. It may sometimes briefly inhibit unipolar pacing. This can be treated by reprogramming the pulse generator.
• Diagnostic radiation (such as screening X-ray) appears to have no effect on pacemaker pulse generators. However, therapeutic radiation (such as for treating cancerous tumors) may damage the pacemaker’s circuits. The degree of damage is unpredictable and may vary with different systems. But the risk is significant and builds up as the radiation dose increases. The American Heart Association recommends that the pacemaker be shielded as much as possible, and moved if it lies directly in the radiation field. If you depend on your pacemaker for normal heart pacing, the electrocardiogram (ECG) should be monitored during the treatment, and your pulse generator should be tested often after and between radiation sessions.
• Dental equipment doesn’t appear to affect pacemakers adversely. Some patients may feel an increase in pacing rates during dental drilling.
• Electroconvulsive therapy (such as for certain mental disorders) appears to be safely used in patients with pacemakers.
• Short-wave or microwave diathermy uses high-frequency, high-intensity signals. These may bypass your pacemaker’s noise protection and interfere with or permanently damage the pulse generator.
More information: American Heart Association – Pacemakers
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Escaport” for the heads up.]
The reason they only used iPods is because the students were smart enough to avoid buying the iPod wannabes in the first place.
So who says the only place for the iPod is “two inches from the pacemaker”? Put the iPod in your pocket or mount it on your belt. Potential problem resolved. If only they were all this easy…. Like how we’re to deal with the hearing loss by all those playing at high volume.
Hmmmm is it just me? Or if I had a pacemaker, I’m not sure I’d hold electronic devices close to where my heart/pacemaker was…
I actually had a science project based on TENS in the tenth grade of high school. Holy crap, I’ve been a nerd all my life.
“My oh my what a wonderful… uh, yeah.”
The proper line is “My oh my what a wonderful 010010100110111101100010011100 . . .day! Everybody!
I was also told that if I need ice I should wear pants but there is no ice machine. We must patiently wait.
I have 5 docs in my family with one cardiologist and one cardiothoracic surgeon. Of course, I’m the one who isn’t a doc. I’d say offhand, that they must be referring to iPods with harddrives, as they are more likely to create a magnetic field, due to the spinning platter within electrical current. Anyhow, just don’t put your iPod in your chest pocket, while having a EKG! {which of course doesn’t happen as you’re barechested when getting an EKG} otherwise, how would you get a misdiagnosis?
Little ado about nothing.
Yeah, pants are really over-rated.
Why do people worry about the little things that might, under the right circumstances, cause a problem, instead of the really big items that could easily kill them? Pacemakers for example, are given to people with heart conditions. Most (not all, but a wide majority) people with heart conditions have poor hearts because they didn’t eat right or exercise. They should spend some quality time worrying about their diet and exercising instead of giving a second thought to something that might possibly affect their pacemaker a little.
These aren’t the people most likely to be wearing an ipod next to their chests while doing something strenuous anyway.
MDN Magic Word: food, as in: If you ate the right kinds and amounts of food and you exercised regularly, you probably wouldn’t need that pacemaker!
TMF
Ya think Jesus would want some of Jamie Lee in a denim bikini?
TT: Praise be.
“Thank you, baby Jesus”.
Well, that sucks. She was clothed, but still more dangerous to a pacemaker than an iPod, I bet…..
Are they sure it’s not the rabid dancing the ipod causes one to do that makes the pacemakers fail? Seriously if an iPod can do this what the fu.. can a mobile phone do. Hell lot more radiation associated with them, I don’t care what the scientists say.
To all those posters who made fun of this article Hahahabloodyha. Real funny isn’t it and what makes you such experts?
Now at times I’ve been irked by some of MDN’s little quips but this time they’ve acted responsibly when they say:
“…a valuable study. Imagine an iPod shuffle clipped to the shirt or an ipod or ipod nano in a shirt pocket right over a pacemaker!” Good one MDN!!
However I can’t say the same of many of the posters on this one.
1. Be stilll my beating heart. First you make a joke of the out of the story with your alias.
2. You think people in their fifties don’t use ipods. What do you mean by this, people in their fifties don’t use computers and can’t see the importance of portable music? We were the ones who purchased the Walkmans and we didn’t stop listening to music. And as Cubert said that if one person’s pacemaker stops because of this then it is a concern.
It is a concern and if you spent any time in a heart ward you’d know what I’m talking about.
3. I don’t have a pacemaker but I saw a lot of people in heart wards who did and increasingly they are younger younger.
4. I’m 53 and I have two ipods and most of the music I listen to is current punk music (Sum 41, A.F.I., Yellowcard, Anti-Flag etc.) and I have two ipods and my wife turns 48 this year and she has an ipod mini. My sister is 58 and she finally bought an ipod. And when I was ordering this computer two and a half years ago I saw a real old guy (in his seventies) buy an ipod. Likewise if you open your eyes you’ll see us boomers with our ipods.
5. In my family we have heart conditions, bypasses, stent operations and some have diabetes. I fall in the heart condition category with two arteries being stented after a heart attack. As I said before I haven’t had a pacemaker installed but I don’t take any of this lightly and maybe just maybe this explanation might just get you to change your attitude.
6. And to most of the other posters who criticised this article or made fun of it you’ve missed the whole point of the report. In medicine you have to err on the conservative side and if there is a potential issue then patients and companies who manufacture “mp3” players have to be made aware of this. It’s just common sense. Apple would be taking this on board and may take steps to improve the shielding (as one responsible poster has noted). And Apple is a responsible company.
5. I hope many of you never ever experience heart problems because if you had (as I have) then you never ever make fun, ridicule or make light of such issues.
6. When I see my local doctor and cardiologist I’ll be telling them about this because they need to know this. No actually I’m not waiting on this one, MDN’s reporting will be emailed ASAP.
7. Anything that come from The Heart Foundation (American, British, Australian etc) is gospel as far as I’m concerned) and many of you just don’t cut the mustard as medicos.
8. Yes medical knowledge is not an exact science and as time goes on more and more knowledge is gathered. Yes some earlier warnings are no longer relevant and at other times Heart Foundations issue new information. This is a medical responsibility. And if one person with a pacemaker is affected by a portable music player then it is is an issue. If this is a potential problem then patients need to be aware of this. It may prove to be nothing but then again it may be a problem.
Again a big thank you to MDN for publicising this I will be sending you a email to personally thank you for the information
…said he asked his dad about a potential interaction between pacemakers and iPods.”
The Dad’s reply?
Well maybe son but I think holding a lit stick of dynamite against the pacemaker is a more serious issue to consider.
This article has DUH written all over it.
Nonsense. I have a pacemaker and I’m just f-bbbbbbbbb…
They had to use iPods for the study because the 17 year old kid couldn’t find enough of any other kind of portable music player to make the study have more than one or two patients.
so Ballmer was right about his 85 year old grandfather not using an iPod…but I’m thinking that his pacemaker ain’t gonna fly w/ a Zune either.
TT,
Yes.
Same goes for knifes!
that´s not a question of iPod but wrong taste of music.
Pacemaker problems? No more Kelly Clarkson for ya, dude, we switch you to a healthy dose of Slayer.
SCNR
I guess common sense isn’t so common, eh?
Walter chillum –
in defense of all us that post on this site… we come to this site ’cause we like Macs and all things apple, plus we’re all cynical bastards who love to ridicule those who speak against our adopted second (or third, or first) religion.
expecting anything else in this forum would be silly. right?
MW: expect…. LOL!
If electrical devices of this nature can cause problems like this then it is valuable information but to only test the iPod and single it out by name is irresponsible. It somehow implies that the iPod is different in some fashion and operates in a different way so as to cause problems. Of course, as with many other articles, using the iPod name is an attention getter and make a story seem far more important.