I was just reading this one. The senior researcher (a PhD with good credentials) said that those who use pacemakers are unlikely to use Ipods. However, I disagree with that assessment. They're becoming more pervasive in socieity and it really isn't that unusual to see someone my age with an MP3 player.

What I'm wondering, though, is whether this is true only for Ipods or is it true for any MP3 player.

Originally posted by Byrd
What I'm wondering, though, is whether this is true only for Ipods or is it true for any MP3 player.

Many electric devices -- such as cell phones, appliances, microwave ovens and high tension wires -- can produce the same effect. That's why doctors tell their patients not to put any electric device over their pacemaker.

From that I'm guessing any MP3 player or electronic would have the same effect.

If they'd tell you the mechanism of interference, it would be easier to say.

I'm not sure why an iPod would emit radio frequencies. I don't have one - do they have a Bluetooth interface?

There's several ways to muck up a pacemaker, depending mostly on the pacemaker and how it's set up.

Some pacemakers constantly fire. These pace every beat. The drawback for a non-demand pacemaker is that they don't have any way to sense body loading, so any sort of thing your heart would normally adjust to, like running, sitting up suddenly, becoming excited or the like, won't be reacted to. You will just get the same old 75 beats per minute or whatever it's set for.

Most pacemakers are demand pacemakers. They look for missed beats, atrial flutters, junction escape beats and the like, and when you actually need it, they step in and pace for a few beats and then stop to see if you have recovered an acceptable rhythm. These work better because your heart is still setting the pace, and the pacemaker steps in only when needed. These are also easier to mess up, because they have to monitor your EKG. So if you have a radio transmission or a lot of magnetic field noise that can induce voltages on the wires, that's going to cause false pacing, or worse, unneeded cardioversion for the defibrillator types.

But both can be shut down or put into a programming/diagnostic mode by static magnetic fields, because that's what they look for to know when to do diagnostics. So a magnet over the pacemaker can cause it to go into shutdown. In fact, they usually give defibrillator patients a magnet to cut the thing off if it goes nuts.

So an iPod has to do something that can either cause a demand pacemaker mis-sense, or it has to have a magnet in it. I can't imagine it randomly emitting strong RF, you have to pass a class B FCC test which is pretty draconian, although it could be an "intentional emitter" if it has Bluetooth or whatnot in it.

Tom, an excellent brief on pacemakers in general.

I too am surprised that they would not be shielded enough that the small amount of EM radiation would affect them.

Im going to have to see what our EP guys and gals say about this one.