With an ageing population in Australia, one would expect the probability of treating cancer patients who have a cardiac pacemaker to increase. In this paper the effect of ionizing radiation and electromagnetic interference on pacemaker function is discussed. A case of a cancer patient, with pacemaker, treated with radiotherapy without ill effect, is described. Concurrently, four pacemakers were tested in vitro with gamma radiation from a 60 Cobalt machine and no adverse effect was found. A list of precautions is recommended.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.