A magnetic camera to assess the risk of magnetic interaction between portable electronics and cardiac implantable electronic devices

Recent portable electronic devices (PED) such as smartphones, electronic pens or in-ear headphones and their charging cases often integrate permanent magnets to facilitate their alignment on wireless charging stations. Recently, magnetic interactions of PED with cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) have been reported after both in vivo and ex vivo experiments. It is therefore of prior importance that physicians can assess this risk individually for each patient wearing a CIED. The ISO standard 14117, as well recognized by the FDA, requires a minimal magnetic field strength of 1 mT (10 G) for the CIEDs to switch to magnet mode, which corresponds to a suspension of the therapy provided by the implant. Physicians should be able to estimate the risk of magnetic interaction which is linked to both the maximal distance where the magnetic field strength generated by a PED is equal to 1 mT and the volume surrounding the PED in which the field strength is equal to or larger than 1 mT. To achieve this tour de force, this paper presents a magnetic field safety camera that allows physicians with no specific knowledge in magnetism to measure the minimum safety distance to ensure between a given PED and CIEDs.