Cell Phones May Interfere with Medical Devices

Cellular telephones may pose a threat to hospital patients by causing medical devices such as mechanical ventilators and other devices that monitor the heart or lungs to malfunction, according to a study published in the January 18 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

In the study that involved both analog and digital models, cellular phones were found to interfere with the functioning of medical equipment in 41% of all devices tested. In 7.4% of the devices, the interference was considered serious enough to perhaps hamper data interpretation or cause the device to malfunction. The gravest case of interference by a cellular phone was causing a mechanical ventilator to shut down and then restart when phones were held several inches from the ventilator's back communication port. The researchers hypothesize that serious malfunctions are unlikely if a cellular phone is used at least 1.5 meters away from medical equipment.

"It would seem reasonable either to limit or to ban the use of cellular phones in the vicinity of medical electronic devices where patients are particularly vulnerable, such as the intensive care unit and operating unit, until safety of these devices can be reasonably proven,” noted Dr. David Herman and Dr. John Abenstein, both of Mayo Clinic, in an editorial accompanying the study's findings.



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