Numerical and experimental study of implanted cardiac defibrillators immunity to ELF electric fields

The risk of malfunction of cardiac implant due to the influence of external electromagnetic field has been highlighted by the 2013/35/EU European Directive, which classified implanted workers as workers at particular risk. We propose in this study a new method to test in vitro cardiac implants with an electric field of 50 Hz. The exposure system was designed using numerical simulations and does not need to be installed in a high voltage laboratory. The influence of electric fields up to 250 kV/m was tested on 11 implanted cardiac defibrillators. The results give the parameters of the implants that are linked with a malfunction for electric field higher or lower than action levels. This is useful approach for risk assessment for workers wearing cardiac implants.