Device that monitors AF

About 10 days ago I had a new battery implanted, they used the same wires, today I went for a checkup and interrigation of my pacemaker.. They have shown me a new device, which will come to me via my mail, I will have to plug the device into my phone jack, this device can monitor my pacer no matter where I am in my home. I guess this operates on radio waves, not sure, if this device can pick up whether I am in AF, is it also affecting my body in adverse ways? I don't like this setup but before I say no I would like to know what some of the posters here say, I know there are quite a few very savy people in this area, sounds a little like big brother is watching.

Liz

Liz,
It sounds as if the new battery which has just been implanted incorporates a small radio-transmitter, capable of communicating with the "new device" which they are mailing to you, and which you will plug into your phone-jack. The advantage of this upgrade is that your doctor will be able to continually monitor your cardiac-function remotely (i.e, from his office). The possible downside is that your pacemaker will now be intermittently broadcasting an RF (radio-frequency) signal to the device plugged into your phone-jack.

What I would advise is that you ask your physician what the "duty-cycle" of your pacemaker's transmitter is (i.e, how often it pulses on, and the duration of the pulse), as well as the power at which it is transmitting (compared to, say, a typical cellphone), as well as whether the transmitting function can be shut off, should you decide that you do not want to utilize the remote-monitoring function.

You probably ought to be prepared for the usual obfuscation-response
(eg, "No one else has ever asked these questions;" "none of our patients have ever had any problem before," "this is standard practice, and is for your own protection;", etc, etc), as well as a genuine lack of knowledge of the facts that you are seeking; but if you persist in your inquiry, you should be able to obtain the information that you need in order to come to an informed decision, one that trades off the risks vs. the rewards. The effect of low-level RF radiation on the human body is still a subject of considerable controversy, despite the current nearly universal usage of cellphones.

Good luck.
Mike

Mike:

Thank you, I called St. Jude, they are the ones that make the pacemaker devices etc. I was told that the device will kick on between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m., it has to be within 10 feet, if I am not in the location, the system will kick on every 2 hours after that. It does operate on radio waves and the person did not know the power with which the device is transmitting, they will call back with an answer (hopefully). I can just not plug the device into the phone jack rendering it not workable. I have rarely used my pacemaker in this past 12 years, it was put in orginally because I had 2 occassions when going back into NSR, my heartbeat almost flatlined, howerver, at that time I was taking a beta blocker (this was before affibers site) and had become hypothyroid as the beta blocker had interferred with my uptake of the thyroid hormone which I was taking. I don't think I need all of this attention, I went all summer without the replacement battery (they said it was just about dead in June) and I did not have any problems.

I just received a call back on my question, I was told that the system operates on 2.45 gigahertz and 4.022-405 megahertz, what does that mean to you.

Thank you for your help.

Elizabeth,


The 2.45 gigahertz band is a typical wireless router band (if you have a wireless router in your home, it operates in the same range). The 4.0 megahertz band is an amateur radio band (some call it "Ham" radio).

Unless you live underground in a lead lined bunker, daily you are exposed to lots of RF in these same bands; this is nothing to be concerned about.

EB

Liz,

The first link below is to the St. Jude website, with a description of their pacemakers---if you know the specific model that is implanted in you, you could no doubt obtain further particulars. The paragraph below that link is a generic summary of the various types of transmitters that may be employed for your situation:

[www.sjmprofessional.com]


Short Range Devices for Patient Monitoring, Control and Diagnostics:
Available technologies and the FCC services for short range patient monitoring include:

 Inductive Implants: Historically, inductive implantable medical devices have been used to control or monitor cardio activity. Most devices operate in the bands below 200 kHz and communicate at distances of less than one foot from the patient’s body.
 Medical Device Radiocommunication Service (formerly “MICS”): Allocated in 1999 for licensed communication between body implants and a nearby controller, the FCC added more frequencies to this service in 2009 for use by body-worn monitoring devices. These devices operate in the 401-406 MHz band at distances up to about 10 feet.
 Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Zigbee: These unlicensed technologies are commonly used with cell phones, hand held devices and personal computers, but can also be used for implanted or body-worn medical devices. These devices operate in the 902-928, 2400-2483.5 and 5725-5850 MHz bands at distances up to a few hundred feet.
 Ultra-Wideband: New uses of unlicensed ultra-wideband technologies are starting to emerge for medical telemetry and imaging applications. These devices operate at very low power in almost any region of the spectrum at distances up to a few feet.
 Medical Micropower Networks: The FCC is considering allocating new spectrum to accommodate operation of implanted microstimulator devices that might lead to the creation of an artificial nervous system that could restore mobility to paralyzed limbs. These devices will operate in the 413-457 MHz band at distances up to a few feet.
 Medical Body Area Networks: The FCC is considering allocating new spectrum to allow a wireless personal area network (“PAN”) of multiple body sensors to monitor or control patient functions. These devices operate in the 2360-2400 MHz band at distances up to a few feet.


Referring again to your post: the"gigahertz" and "megahertz" terms that you ask about are simply the frequencies at which the pacemaker transmits to the receiver unit, which is what you plug into your landline.

The fact that it will "kick on between 2:00and 4:00" does not inform you as to either the duration or the frequency of the pulse emitted by your pacemaker, and these two numbers, together with the emitted-power level, enables you to assess the total amount of energy that will be absorbed by your body (after all, some fraction of this energy will be absorbed by your heart and other adjacent organs, and while it may be negligible in terms of long-term harm, I suppose it might also conceivably be sufficient to trigger an arrhythmia in an already unstable heart. It might be worth inquiring, and/or researching, whether such events have been observed)?

The relevant questions would be: does the pacemaker stay on for the entire time between 2 & 4 AM? Or does it only respond when interrogated by the Receiver Unit plugged into your phone-jack? While transmitting, is the RF sent in pulses, and if so, how long do these pulses
last (microseconds? milliseconds? etc.) How frequently do they occur (every minute? every hour?, etc).

And finally, just to make your day, I am including a link to a report concerning past problems that St. Jude has been having with cracking/peeling of the insulation on some of their pacemaker leads (wires). You have mentioned that the original wires were left in place. You might want to inquire of your cardiologist whether he contemplates any future problems with these leads.

[www.startribune.com]


Hope that all this helps in clarifying the situation.

Mike

Dear FiveBox,

While it is quite true that our environment is flooded with RF radiation from multiple-sources, the difference is that these sources are not situated atop our heart. Since electromagnetic radiation drops off with the square of the distance from the source (i.e, if you're twice as far away, your exposure drops to one-fourth the intensity, and so forth), those sources which we have on our person (cellphones, pacemakers, etc) tend to expose us to considerably greater levels of radiation than do the celltowers (miles away), wireless routers (feet or yards away), etc.

While the current studies conflict as to whether the low-level radiation from these devices constitutes a long-term health problem or not, it is still a potential threat that people ought to be aware of, before they blithely take on that risk.

Mike

Mike:

You are a jewel, I called St. Jude again and finally got someone who was able to give me good information---I was asked for my orginal pacer serial and model number and was told that the monitoring device that they are sending me will be under my control. I will have a schedule set up to transmitt my pacers info., probably once every 6 months. The monitor will not be on all the time and the 2:00 to 4:00 a.m. is not scheduled for me, I was given wrong info. in my previous call. You have given me great counsel, I have learned a lot and was able to ask intelligent questions about my pacer, also about the cracking of the wires, I was told that when they interogate my pacer they can tell if the wires are ok, now I am a doubter so I don't know if that can be taken to the bank.

Thanks again
Liz