Europace Advance Access originally published online on January 5, 2006
Europace 2006 8(3):175-177; doi:10.1093/europace/euj001
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ICDS
Detection of refrigerator-associated 60 Hz alternating current as ventricular fibrillation by an implantable defibrillator
Department of Adult CardiologyPrince Sultan Cardiac CenterPO Box 7897 (X-982), Riyadh 11159 Saudi Arabia
This report describes a patient with an implantable defibrillator who suffered an inappropriate defibrillation shock upon retrieving some food items from his inadequately earthed refrigerator. Noise typical of electrical interference can be observed in the stored electrogram of the episode. The patient was instructed to earth his home appliances, but he decided to avoid his refrigerator altogether, and has had no subsequent shocks.
Key Words: Implantable defibrillator, Electromagnetic interference, Inappropriate shock
* Corresponding author. Tel: +966 5 561 6245; fax: +966 1 474 9995. E-mail address: avnrt{at}hotmail.com