Hazards of an Alternative Medicine Device in a Patient with a Pacemaker

Abstract

To the Editor: Both patients and health care professionals should be aware of potential pacemaker interactions in the environment, since cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators are sensitive to many kinds of electromagnetic interference. A 52-year-old man with a dual-chamber pacemaker, implanted because of intermittent, symptomatic, high-degree atrioventricular block, presented with short episodes of dizziness and near-fainting. A detailed history revealed that the symptoms occurred exclusively during self-prescribed therapy with a Zapper device. The Zapper, which is available worldwide, is a simple, battery-powered, direct-current–offset pulse generator with square-wave output at a constant frequency of 33.3 kHz ±10 percent. These electronic pulse frequencies . . .