Effects of electronic autodefense devices on cardiac pacemakers.

The problem of interference on pacemakers as a result of extraneous electric current and electromagnetic fields is important since more than 1.5 million people worldwide have pacemakers implanted. Each year at least 100,000 people have cardiac pacemakers implanted. This article reports several effects of two electronic autodefense devices on some cardiac pacemakers. The results show that the interference affects severely the behavior of the cardiac pacemakers, but if the duration is no more than 5 s, the effects are not permanent, and the pacemakers return to the correct action as soon as the interference ceases.