Electromagnetic Interference in Implantable Rhythm
Devices: Comment
Ramachandran P.V., MD
Professor of Radiology, Medical College Calicut, Kerala, India.
Address for correspondence: Dr. Ramachandran P.V., MD, Professor of
Radiology, Medical College Calicut, Kerala, India.
Email: chithira@vsnl.com
This is a short comment on the editorial on Electromagnetic
Interference
in Implantable Rhythm Devices - The Indian Scenario in the
July-September
issue of the journal.1 Regarding the
statement:
"Systems working at 0.5 Tesla are available in the country so that it
may
be considered in such situations..." , though the author conveys his
point,
it gives reader a feeling that 0.5 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging
(MRI)
units are advantageous. In fact for every other diagnostic purpose we
would
like to have higher Tesla MRI units. The 0.5 Tesla unit is inferior
compared to higher Tesla systems. The cry of Eastern European countries
in a conference held in November 2001 at Antwerpen by the European
Working Group on Management in Radiology (EWGMR), was that they have
only 0.5 Tesla magnets and so they can not do this , that , no
functional MRI , no stroke imaging etc etc... But a western European
reader can get confused. I do not think there will be a single system
working at 0.5 Tesla in countries like Germany.
References
1. Johnson
Francis: Electromagnetic Interference in Implantable Rhythm Devices -
The Indian Scenario. Indian Pacing and Electrophysiology Journal.
2002;2(3):1
