Effect on pacemakers of airport weapons detectors.

An investigation was carried out using a variety of pacemakers and all the types of weapons detectors in common use in Canada, to determine whether or not such detectors present a hazard to pacemaker bearers. The results indicate that only left-side implants of unipolar sensing pacemakers are likely to be affected, that ventricular fibrillation initiated by interference-induced competitive pacing is the only conceivable hazard, but that the probability of 10(-9) for the occurrence of this event is so low that it may be completely disregarded. Physicians may therefore reassure pacemaker bearers of their safety in and around airport weapons detectors.