Electromagnetic Interference from Wireless Video‐Capsule Endoscopy on Implantable Cardioverter‐Defibrillators

Abstract

In patients with devices identical to those evaluated that showed no interference, the use of the Pill-Cam is safe. However, in patients with a Biotronik Belos ICD (or any other nontested ICD) the use of the Pill-Cam should be done only in-hospital, after suspended ICD therapy and in conjunction with close monitoring.

Safety of Capsule Endoscopy Using Human Body Communication in Patients with Cardiac Devices

“…We assessed three cardiac pacemakers and three ICDs manufactured by only two companies, Medtronic (Medtronic, Inc., Minneapolis, MN, USA) and St. Jude Medical (St. Jude Medical, Sylmar, CA, USA). The small number of patients with limited types of cardiac devices observed in this study prevents us from generalizing our results, as EMI differs depending on the device type, manufacturer, and model [17]. However, considering the number of patients with cardiac devices and their general condition, the practical difficulty lies in enrollment of these patients.…”

“…Filtering technologies to block the outside electric signals differ depending on their manufacturers, as indicated by the results of an in vitro study [17]. Although a unipolar cardiac pacemaker has a different sensitivity to external electromagnetic energy from a bipolar cardiac pacemaker [6,24], electric signals flow into the pacemaker through the telemetry channel rather than the leads, and thus there were no significant differences in interference rates between the two types [8,10].…”

“…In vitro studies demonstrated that CE does not significantly interfere with cardiac devices [16][17][18][19].…”

A Review on Remote Monitoring Technology Applied to Implantable Electronic Cardiovascular Devices

“…One of the studies (in VOO, unipolar mode) showed significant interference in the recording when the capsule was near the pacemaker but no change in pacemaker functioning. 15 The other study 16 showed normal function in all ICDs but one (Biotronik Belos ICD). Nonetheless, they recommend suspending ICD therapies in conjunction with close monitoring.…”

“…14 Nevertheless, they concluded that the use of such technology was safe counting that some precaution measures were taken (e.g., cellular phone in the ipsilateral ear or rapid passing by the antitheft devices). More recently, some authors 15,16 reported interference between video-capsule endoscopy and some IECDs. One of the studies (in VOO, unipolar mode) showed significant interference in the recording when the capsule was near the pacemaker but no change in pacemaker functioning.…”