title: Automatic implantable cardioverter/defibrillator: inadvertent discharges during permanent pacemaker magnet tests.
abstract: A patient with an automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillator (AICD) received two inadvertent shocks when a magnet was placed over the pacer during a routine permanent pacer check. Analysis of the rhythm strip suggested that both patients' QRS complexes (133 beats/minute) and asynchronous pacer artifacts (70 beats/minute) were counted by the AICD sensing system and exceeded the rate criteria of 153 beats/minute. This resulted in shocks from the AICD during sinus rhythm at 133 beats/minute. To avoid possible inadvertent shocks, an AICD should be deactivated while a magnet is placed over the pacemaker during a permanent pacer check.
mesh_terms: D004554:Electric Countershock / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000295:instrumentation; D004556:Electric Injuries / Q000209:etiology*; D006352:Heart Ventricles; D006801:Humans; D008280:Magnetics; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010138:Pacemaker, Artificial / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013610:Tachycardia / Q000628:therapy; D014693:Ventricular Fibrillation / Q000628:therapy