Doctors alerted over cosmic ray effects on St Jude's older-generation ICDs (implantable cardioverter defibrillator)
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
St Jude Medical has warned doctors that background levels of atmospheric ionising cosmic radiation, also known as cosmic rays, could affect three of its older lines of implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs). The rays affect specifically the memory chip of the Photon DR, Photon Micro VR/DR and Atlas VR/DR ICDs, triggering battery drain in these devices and consequently, causing the defibrillator to switch off.