Anti-theft devices can affect pacemakers

Doctors must warn patients with pacemakers that their devices may be disrupted by anti-theft devices used in shops, experts have said.

Many patients are unaware that electronic anti-theft systems, also known as electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems, can pose a threat to people using cardiac devices, they said.

Prolonged exposure to the in-store devices can cause pacing therapy to drop beats and cause implantable defibrillators (ICDs) to deliver inappropriate shocks, experts told the Cardiostim EHRA Europace 2016 conference in Nice, France.