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Radiation Damage to Pacemakers from Radiotherapy
Author(s) -
VENSELAAR J.L.M.,
KERKOERLE H.L.J.M.,
VET A.J.T.M.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
pacing and clinical electrophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.686
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1540-8159
pISSN - 0147-8389
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-8159.1987.tb04517.x
Subject(s) - medicine , ionizing radiation , irradiation , radiation therapy , radiation exposure , nuclear medicine , radiation , radiation dose , medical physics , radiology , optics , physics , nuclear physics
The literature shows that radiation treatment with a high dose of ionizing radiation is becoming an increasing risk for patients with a pacemaker. In our investigation, 23 pacemakers were subjected to a destructive radiation test. of these 23, five proved unable to withstand a dose of 70 Gy. One pacemaker failed at a dose of only 13 Gy. Our results are compared with those reported in other recent publications. Analysis of the data shows that the CMOS electronic device, which is currently used in practically all pacemakers, is responsible for the high sensitivity to ionizing radiation. We conclude that direct irradiation of the pacemaker is contraindicated in all cases.