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A Prospective Pediatric Clinical Trial of Digital Music Players: Do They Interfere with Pacemakers?
Author(s) -
CHIU CHRISTINE C.,
HUH JUNE,
DE SOUZA LAURA,
ALFARORAMIREZ ARMANDO,
CLEGG ROBIN,
FENWICK LAURA,
HAMILTON ROBERT M.,
KIRSH JOEL A.,
GROSS GIL J.,
GAO DONGSHENG,
STEPHENSON ELIZABETH A.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of cardiovascular electrophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.193
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1540-8167
pISSN - 1045-3873
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-8167.2008.01270.x
Subject(s) - medicine , programmer , telemetry , cardiology , telecommunications , embedded system , computer science
Background:There has been recent concern in the media about iPod™ interference with pacemakers. We systematically tested two types of digital music players (DMP) on pacemaker or ICD function in children.Methods/Results:Patients were monitored by a 6‐lead ECG and programmer telemetry. The pacemaker was tested in bipolar and unipolar sensing at normal and maximal sensitivities. The order of DMP tested was randomized. Each DMP was placed on top of the pacemaker pocket, put into “play” mode three times (5 seconds each), with and without programmer wand placed one cm adjacent to DMP. Pacemaker interference was defined as: pacing inhibition, inappropriate pacing, oversensing, or detection of high‐rate episodes associated with the use of DMP. Of the 67 patients (mean age 12 ± 5 years), 62 had pacemakers and five had ICDs; 39 endocardial and 28 epicardial systems. Patients were tested with Sansa™ (67), iPod™ 30 GB (51), and other DMPs (43). There was no evidence of interference with pacemaker function by any DMP under any of the study conditions (each performed in triplicate). Reproducible programmer telemetry interference was shown in 11 cases (Medtronic 6/47, St. Jude Medical 5/18, Guidant 0/2) related to use of iPod™ (6), Sansa™ (1), or others (4). None of these were associated with any evidence of pacemaker malfunction.Conclusion:Interference with pacemaker function could not be shown with iPod™ or MP3 players. No additional precaution beyond standard is necessary for patients with pacemakers when they are using these players.