Measured Effects of Square-Wave Modulated RF Fields (450 and 3100 MHz) on Cardiac Pacemakers

The Biological Significance of Radio-Frequency Radiation Emission on Cardiac Pacemaker Performance

“…During testing, the pacemaker and horizontal lead arrangement is placed inside the test container as described above, with 1 cm of solution between the pacemaker and front wall of the container. A similar arrangement used in all previous USAFSAM tests provided good correlation between this method of simulated implant and the implanted dogs (4,18). With the many variables (body size, location, orientation, depth of implant) in actual human implants, this procedure for implant simulation is believed sufficient for EMI testing.…”

“…Many different types of instrumentation techniques have been used in cardiac pacemaker EMI testing (4,8,(15)(16)(17)(18). The principal requirement is that the instrumentation system be immune to the EM fields encountered in the tests and that it presents to the pacemaker a load and signal simulating those encountered in an actual implant situation, so that the results obtained apply to a human implant.…”

“…Their sensing circuit is programmed to respond to electrical signals normally generated by the heart. Energy pulses induced externally via the pacemaker leads or circuitry can erroncously cause thc pacemaker to inhibit its needed output (4,8). Thus, the interaction of radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic radiation fields with cardiac pacemakers represents a unique indirect biological effect.…”