Shielded Surgical Mat Reduces Magnetic Interference

A patent pending magnetic surgical mat offers added protection for patients wearing an electronic implant undergoing a surgical procedure.

The LT10G reusable surgical mat is a patent-pending magnetic surface intended for use in the operating room (OR) to minimize hand transfer of surgical instruments, thus helping to reduce the risks of sharps-related injuries. The silicone-coated magnetic mat is shielded on its undersurface so that it produces no magnetic interference that could be harmful for patients with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), pacemaker, or other implanted electronic device; LT10G stands for “Less Than 10 Gauss”.

The LT10G reusable magnetic surgical is a product of MENODYS (Longueuil, Canada), which acquired the exploitation rights to the device from LT10G inventors Louis-Philippe Fortier, MD, and Valerie Zaphiratos, MD, both of them anesthetists of the Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont (Montreal, Canada), affiliated with the University of Montreal.

“In light of the publication of several studies and the US FDA reporting of adverse events related to electromagnetic interference, this provides the market with a product that is safer to use on patient populations with pacemakers and other electronic implants,” said David Watermeier, director of international marketing at DeRoyal (Knoxville, TN, USA), which holds the exclusive worldwide supply agreement with MENODYS. “Furthermore, a reusable mat will prove to be more economical in many markets outside the US where disposable products are not customary.”

The suggested exposure limit for cardiac pacemakers set by American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) is 0.5 mT (or 5 G).

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