Airport metal detector and wired rib cage.

[Bettie]

Hi,
My sister had knee replacement surgery and she had to have something signed by her doctor when she went on a recent airplane flight. Does anyone know if we need to have this if we have had open heart surgery.? I think that that the rib cage has been wired together, and I'm wondering if the metal detector will register for this?

Bettie

[eatwell]

Bettie, my husband asked this when I was in cleveland for my surgery a couple of months ago. They said, that the wires should NOT be picked up by the metal detector. We should be fine.

laura

[angall]

Hi Bettie

I was told by my cardiologist not to go through a metal dectector. It could cause my ICD to misfunction.

I have never had a letter from my cardiologist.

When I go to the airport, I tell whomever is at the security system that I have a ICD and they physically search me. In the beginning I was a little embarresed, but I have gotten use to it.

Take care

[Laoshur]

Has anyone here tried just going on through an airport metal detector with an ICD? I am very tempted to give it a try to see what happens. I have actually gone through them at the Great Hall of the People because I did not figure that I could explain the situation to them and I had left my Chinese translation at home. Absolutely nothing happened, but they obviously had them set low as no one seemed to be setting them off.

When I got mine, the Guidant rep said that it probably would not be a problem unless my heart decided to stop at the precise moment I was in the detector. In that case she joked that I would probably fall out of the gate and it would kick back on. So I have been very tempted to just walk through to see what happens. But I always think that if it sets it off, they might be irritated with me and I would have a harder time explaining why I went through. The result is that I know which country (US, China, or Japan) has the nicest pat downers (China) and which ones are roughest (tie between the other two).

So has anyone tried this?

Rhoda

[elmatt]

I called medtronic about going through security at the Airports with an ICD. They told me that although I could walk through the security arch it was preferable to be hand searched and under no circumstances was I to allow the "wand" to come near my ICD. I have flown a couple times now with my ICD and it really is not a hassle. I have opted for the hand search each time. Sometimes you can get lucky and get out faster than those waiting in the general line... I'm glad to hear I won't need to worry about the wires that I will soon have in my chest.

[Stuart Schwartz]

Bettie,

I had a myectomy about one year ago. I have been through the airport detectors 6 time since my open heart surgery. The first time was 11 weeks post surgery. NO PROBLEM.