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Local Tissue Temperature Increase of a Generic Implant Compared to the Basic Restrictions Defined in Safety Guidelines
21/11/2011
Local Tissue Temperature Increase of a Generic Implant Compared to the Basic Restrictions Defined in Safety Guidelines
Adamos Kyriakou, Andreas Christ, Esra Neufeld, and Niels Kuster, Bioelectromagnetics, Volume 33, Issue 5, pp. 366–374, July 2012, online ahead of print, November 21, 2011
The objective of this study was to investigate if people with implantable medical devices are protected by the current electromagnetic safety guidelines. This study, based on generic implants, showed that a 1°C temperature increase in the tissues around the tips of the implant can be reached for field strengths much smaller than 1% of those in the basic restrictions. The impact of perfusion was investigated and was found to result in a reduction in the peak local temperature increase by only 1.6–3 times. Additional simulations inside an inhomogeneous anatomical model confirmed that the heating was similar to that observed in the generic model.
The scientific and technical impact of the study can be summarized as:
- The current safety guidelines do not adequately protect persons with implants,
- Special considerations are required, especially in the case of novel, emerging technologies that feature strong near-fields at frequencies below 10 MHz (e.g., wireless power-transfer systems).
