Doctor, Will My Surgical Hardware Set Off Metal Detector in the Airport?

Objective  Verify if routinely used metallic implants (stainless steel, aluminum alloy, cobalt-chromium-molybdenum, and titanium made) will be detected in an international airport of Brazil and generate helpful information to prevent patient inconvenience and to support the security regulatory agencies. Methods  An experimental, non-randomized, controlled, cross-over study was performed by recruiting two individuals, one male and one female, to pass through a standard airport metal detector with orthopedic implants attached to the body. Implants with different compositions, weight, and in various parts of the body were tested. Results  From all implants tested, there was no detection of implants for internal fixation, whether steel or titanium. The external fixator was detected and the only difference in composition is that the external fixator tested have aluminum alloy. All hip replacement implants tested were detected. Two knee replacement implants were tested, and both were made of cobalt-chromium-molybdenum, but with different specifications and only one of them was detected. Conclusions  In this study with ex-vivo orthopedic implants, we have found that osteosynthesis implants composed by Stainless Steel ISO 5832-1 did not trigger the airport walk-through metal detector. However, external fixator and total joint prostheses were more frequently detected.