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Related Experiment Videos

Pacemaker interference by 60-Hz contact currents.

Trevor W Dawson1, Krzysztof Caputa, Maria A Stuchly

  • 1Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Victoria, BC, Canada. tdawson@ece.uvic.ca

IEEE Transactions on Bio-Medical Engineering
|August 1, 2002
PubMed
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Contact currents can interfere with cardiac pacemakers. This study found that 60-Hz contact currents can disrupt unipolar pacemakers at 24–45 microA and bipolar pacemakers at 63–340 microA.

Area of Science:

  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Computational Electromagnetics
  • Medical Device Safety

Background:

  • Contact currents, arising from touching conductive surfaces at different potentials, create a pathway for current flow through the body.
  • These currents act as a coupling mechanism between external low-frequency fields and the human body, potentially inducing fields that interfere with implanted cardiac pacemakers.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To numerically model and evaluate the potential for cardiac pacemaker interference caused by contact currents.
  • To investigate various configurations of current injection and extraction, pacemaker placement, and lead resistances.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a modified scalar-potential finite-difference frequency-domain code capable of handling combined electrode sources and implanted wires.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Simulated contact current interference in diverse scenarios, including different current extraction points (opposite hand, feet, or both) and pacemaker generator/electrode placements.
  • Investigated the impact of unipolar pacemaker leads with 20 kΩ and 100 kΩ resistance values.

    • Main Results:

    • Established that 60-Hz contact current interference thresholds for unipolar cardiac pacemakers (typical sensitivity settings) range from 24 to 45 microA.
    • Estimated contact current thresholds for bipolar pacemakers, using voltage and electric field dosimetry, fall between 63 and 340 microA.

    Conclusions:

    • Contact currents pose a significant risk of interference for both unipolar and bipolar cardiac pacemakers.
    • Numerical modeling provides a viable method for assessing pacemaker interference risks under various exposure conditions.
    • Findings provide crucial data for understanding and mitigating pacemaker interference from environmental electrical exposures.