Reliability of electromagnetic filters of cardiac pacemakers tested by cellular telephone ringing.
Trigano A, Blandeau O, Dale C, Wong MF, Wiart J. · 2005
View Original AbstractOnly older, unprotected pacemakers showed interference from cell phones, with modern filtered devices proving highly resistant even at maximum power.
Plain English Summary
French researchers tested whether cell phone signals could interfere with cardiac pacemakers by placing ringing phones directly on patients' chests during routine clinic visits. Out of 330 tests on 158 patients, interference occurred in only 5 cases (1.5%), and only with older pacemaker models that lacked electromagnetic filters. This demonstrates that modern pacemakers with protective filters are highly resistant to cell phone interference, even during the peak power phase of incoming calls.
Why This Matters
This study provides reassuring evidence about pacemaker safety in our wireless world, but it also reveals an important vulnerability. The fact that interference occurred exclusively with unprotected pacemaker models highlights a critical point: not all medical devices are created equal when it comes to EMF protection. The researchers tested phones at their maximum power output (2 watts for GSM, 1 watt for PCS) placed directly over the pacemaker pocket, representing a worst-case scenario that exceeds typical daily exposure. What this means for you is that while modern pacemakers generally handle cell phone signals well, patients with older devices should remain cautious about keeping phones close to their chest. The 1.5% interference rate, while low, still represents real risk for those with vulnerable devices.
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study. The study examined exposure from: 900, 1800 MHz
Study Details
This study tested the protection offered by electromagnetic filters of cardiac pacemakers against cellular phone ringing.
We performed 330 consecutive tests in 158 patients at the time of routine examination in our pacemak...
Interference was noted in only 5 tests, due to interaction by the GSM system with 4 unprotected pace...
Interference by cellular phone ringing occurred only with unprotected pacemaker models. Standard programming of these unprotected models was associated with a low incidence of interference.
Show BibTeX
@article{a_2005_reliability_of_electromagnetic_filters_2633,
author = {Trigano A and Blandeau O and Dale C and Wong MF and Wiart J.},
title = {Reliability of electromagnetic filters of cardiac pacemakers tested by cellular telephone ringing.},
year = {2005},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16051120/},
}