Cardiology patients. Have you had your heart implant check up, recently?

Health WARNING: Smartphones can cause pacemakers to FAIL

People with pacemakers have been warned NOT to keep their smartphones in their top pocket – after scientists discovered they can make the devices STOP

For article CLICK HERE 

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A large-scale study has found that heart implant failures may account for up to 30 per cent of the sudden deaths of patients fitted with them, see Sunday Express 9th August

This adds up to as many as 2,000 deaths a year in the UK where they are used by up to a quarter of a million patients, with 50,000 more being implanted annually.

The devices include pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators called ICDs which are fitted to help regulate faulty heart rhythms.

Professor Zian Tseng, who led the new research, said: “This study shows that a leading cause of mortality in the developed world could be attributed to heart device problems, which is a major concern. In many cases these devices are saving lives but we assume they are infallible and they are not.”

The professor, from the University of San Francisco, said there was “an urgent need for a systematic surveillance of problems”.

The US study involved post mortem examinations of 517 patients with electronic cardiac implants who suffered a sudden death.

It identified device flaws including hardware failures, dead batteries, lead fractures, inappropriate programming or the wrong device used which it concluded were directly linked.

The study report, in the Journal of the American Medical Association, concluded: “Current passive surveillance efforts may underestimate device malfunction.”