Authors:
Leena Korpinen
1
;
Rauno Pääkkönen
2
;
Martine Souques
3
and
Vesa Virtanen
4
Affiliations:
1
Tampere University of Technology, Finland
;
2
Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Finland
;
3
EDF, France
;
4
Tampere University Hospital, Finland
Keyword(s):
Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators, ICD, Worker, Directive.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Cardiovascular Technologies
;
Computing and Telecommunications in Cardiology
;
Health Engineering and Technology Applications
;
Mobile Devices and Ubiquity, Data Privacy and Security
;
Remote Control of Implantable Devices
;
Telemedicine, Real-Time Cardiac Monitoring and Patient Management Systems
Abstract:
The indications for implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) are expanding and workers’ use of ICDs has increased. The aim of this paper was to investigate the new directive, 2013/35/EU, on occupational exposure to ELF electric fields and the electrical workers’ use of Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICDs). For example, the directive includes information about medical implants, e.g. ICDs and possible interference problems. In this paper, we describe our earlier study of ICDs and analyze where it is possible to find such high electric fields that the exposure can influence the ICDs. Based on experiments at Tampere University of Technology, the electric field under a 400 kV power line may disturb an ICD, when the electric field is below the low action level (10 kV/m). However, there were no no effects observed on ICDs functioning up to 0.9 kV/m, and only anomalous behavior in some conditions was observed when levels exceeded 5.1 kV/m. The risk of disturbances is not cons
idered to be high.
(More)