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A systematic literature review was carried out to study patient security and possible harmful effects, immunity and interferences on medical devices, and effectiveness and transmission problems in healthcare and hospital environments due to electromagnetic interferences. The objective was to determine already-reported cases of patient security, immunity of medical devices, and transmission/reception failure in order to evaluate safety and security of patients. Literature published in the last 10 years has been reviewed by searching in bibliographic databases, journals, and proceedings of conferences. Search strategies developed in electronic databases identified a total of 820 references, with 50 finally being included. The study reveals the existence of numerous publications on interferences in medical devices due to radiofrequency fields. However, literature on effectiveness, transmission problems and measurements of electromagnetic fields is limited. From the studies collected, it can be concluded that several cases of serious interferences in medical instruments have been reported. Measures of electromagnetic fields in healthcare environments have been also reported, concluding that special protective measures should be taken against electromagnetic interferences by incoming radio waves.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to initiate research in the field of biomedical engineering geared towards a reduction of non-thermal effects on the brain due to the use of mobile telephones. This line of research employs devices attached to the back of cellular-telephone cases.Methods: Under electromagnetic-environment controlled conditions EEG records have been obtained in 16 healthy subjects, with their eyes open at the base-line. These records were compared with the use of the mobile telephone with and without one of these devices for five minutes each, and having them statistically tested with Wilcoxon matched-pairs. Results: Differences between experimental EEG, with and without the use of the device, have been observed. These subtle changes basically affect Delta and Theta wave bands. Their distribution, (changes in the affected areas of the brain), also varies, above all in the frontal areas.Conclusions: The use of this device could reduce non-thermal effects of mobile telephones on the human EEG.

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