Return to arc welding following defibrillator implantation

A male arc welder who was fitted with an implantable defibrillator wished to return to his former employment. Device testing and ambient magnetic field measurements were performed at his place of work. During welding, artifacts were seen on the intracardiac electrogram but there was no resulting disturbance of sensing function. Measured field strengths were too low to result in device inactivation. The patient resumed his work without incident. This appears to be the first reported case of a patient with an implantable defibrillator returning to this "electrically hostile" environment following thorough screening.