Heart Patient Risk From iPad2 Found by 14-Year-Old
bloomberg.com
bloomberg.com
They continue (in the video) and lump pacemakers into the warning even though their own article specifies that pacemakers were unaffected: "The iPad2 didn’t interfere with four pacemakers or a loop-recorder, which were also tested."
tl;dr - 14 year old's dad does her science fair project for her and doesn't win. Nobody learns anything and the news gets it all wrong.
It was her idea, she concocted the theory, investigation and reported the results. Insofar as she didn't do part of the full experiment, no teenager should be allowed to carry out casual experiments involving shutting off life-support equipment on heart patients - duh, let an adult handle that bit. That she didn't win doesn't mean anything more than the winners were better projects, drama aside.
People DID learn something. Awareness is spreading about the issues of proliferation of magnets strong enough to cause false inputs to implanted medical devices.
The only thing the news got wrong was the subtle jab at Apple, rather than a more neutral reference to the many magnet-containing products which have similar odds of the same problem.
As far as Bloomberg reports. Her father is hinted as being a heart surgeon ("given her father's specialty") but it's never explicitly pointed out in the article.
She's obviously extremely intelligent—and I have no qualms with a 14 yo getting some hints from their parents for a project idea—but the article seems designed to sensationalise an issue that has long existed.
"Apple story == page views".
You're right, of course. I was being overly cynical. These types of "news" stories just get my hackles up.
Fundamentally, this is a consequence of the decision of manufacturers such as Medtronic to use a magnetic field to temporarily disable implantable cardioverters/defibrillators. Note that magnetic fields do different things for ICDs produced by different manufacturers.
One of the first warnings I got about having one was to not dangle earbuds around my neck where they would hang in front of my left shoulder. Other warnings about keeping distance from generators, magnets, shoulder-pressed cell phones, store theft-deterrent sensors, and even chainsaws (cardiologist & I got a kick out of wondering which would kill me first: the alternator's fields knocking out the pacer, or my passed-out fall into the still-spinning blade). MRIs...just don't even go there.
The problem with magnets is more complex than perhaps obvious. There's bad input, and then there's damage. What the girl is referring to is quite legitimate: defibrillators and pacemakers typically allow proximity of a magnet as a "master override" function. When I suffered an unrelated instance of atrial flutter (heart decided to run at 350bpm, pacemaker hit the brakes at 150...for 12 hours), the ER doc not having a diagnostic system handy forced the pacemaker to reduce to a much more humane rate by placing a good-sized magnet over the pacemaker; this allowed a more relaxed 2-hour wait for a technician to arrive and better diagnose & manage the problem (the subsequent drive-thru heart surgery is another story). She's raising awareness that sometimes this "master override" function can be induced improperly and even unknowingly, leaving the patient in a high-risk condition without knowing until periodic diagnostics or medical failure. A related issue she may tangentially raise awareness of is outright damage, with induced currents overstimulating the patient or frying the electronics (see aforementioned chainsaw issue).
She's raising a good issue. With the proliferation of tiny super-magnets, an enduring technical problem must be revisited: how to provide a low/no-impact way to essentially "hit the reset button" on an implanted medical device when there is no visible/external contacts? Not long ago, using a strong magnet to activate a magnetic switch was a sensible solution. Today, stronger magnetic fields are coming closer more often, risking activating a "safe/master mode", and there's not much way to alert anyone to the condition.
To address a few other points: Yes, any small but strong magnets like the magsafe plug are a possible problem. It's not an EMI problem so much as false input to a magnetic sensor. Defibrillators and pacemakers face the same basic problem, but the former moreso because the "master override" function needed is a function shutdown (need a way to turn it off and keep it off), while the latter responds in a more benign manner.
Glad to hear someone raising awareness of the issue. Amused that it's a child figuring it out and publicizing it. Thanks, kid!
One comment, the magnet for magsafe power supplies is actually in the laptop, not the plug.
Have you heard about people implanting a tiny magnet in their pinky finger? I think they've been mentioned on HN before... could give you insight about magnetic fields around you (assuming it was weak enough not to be a cause for concern itself).
EDIT: past story on the implants.
http://www.iamdann.com/2012/03/21/my-magnet-implant-body-mod...
Yeah, I've heard of the magnetic finger modification. I promptly was concerned about it, not quite sure why but favor caution; sure wouldn't want one given the possible consequences. Since earbud magnets are enough to warrant concern, I'll avoid what is likely more powerful.
Woolrich has a line of shirts I want which feature magnetic "button". Can't convince myself they wouldn't be a problem.
I had a pacer wire for about 5 days post-surgery. Shocked me once. That sucked.
Post implant, setup process caused several convulsions. Harmless, but gave me a giggling fit. Thanks to one wire too close to my diaphragm I couldn't sleep on my left side (compressed them together) for two years until they figured out how to reprogram it to stop making me twitch each beat.
Diagnostics is always amusing when they drop the heart rate to 40, and do it as if I won't notice.
I specifically avoid speaking "like a doctor" around my kids; it induces a cringe like no other when I see teenagers trying to speak like an experienced MD.
That said, this Gianna girl seems well-composed, poetry and all.
"EMIT: Does iPad Use in Patients with Implantable Cardiac Rhythm Devices Cause Electromagnetic Interference?"
(EMIT looks intended to be an acronym, but what do the letters stand for?)
As I commented above, this is usual practice for cardiology publications. And her dad is a cardiology subspecialist.
Maybe this is why she didn't win first place? At any rate, if this finding holds up, this is a serious problem.
Edit: "the project was beat out for the top spot by work on electromagnetics and on the effect of punctuation mark placement in keyboards on carpal tunnel syndrome."
So I guess she's just up against really stiff competition.
Edit: Implanted defibrillators, not pacemakers
You do need a decent magnetic field next to the pacemaker - having it near a fridge magnet while you open the fridge looking to sneak a snack isn't going to do it.
I used to work as a neuro tech, and we would occasionally reprogram vagus nerve stimulators (sort of a defibrillator for the vagus nerve). Every few minutes it would send a charge up the vagus nerve, which could scramble rhythms that might be developing into a seizure. You could dell when it was firing if the person was talking - every few minutes, their voice would go funny for a couple of seconds as the vocal chords are innervated by the vagus. It wasn't the most pleasant experience, but you did get used to it, and it was better than the general level of seizures you'd have to have to get one implanted in the first place.