ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) - More than half of all orthopedic implants can be detected by metal detectors, according to a study by the orthopedic surgery department at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Harvard Medical School) in Boston.
The report, issued earlier this year in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, found that:
-Ninety per cent of total knee replacements and all total hip replacements were detected, whether they were unilateral or bilateral.
-Plates, screws, intramedullary nails and wires are rarely detected.
-Cobalt-chromium and titanium implants are much more likely to be detected than stainless-steel implants.
-Lower-extremity implants are detected 10 times more often than upper-extremity and 11 times more than spine implants.
-Upper-extremity prostheses, such as total shoulder replacements, total wrist replacements and radial head replacements, were not detected.
The findings were based on a one-month study of 129 volunteers with a total of 149 implants who walked through an M-Scope three-zone metal detector used at commercial airports. The detector was programmed at both low and high levels, with sensitivities equivalent to U.S. Transportation Security Administration settings.
Fifty-seven of the 149 implants were detected at the low-sensitivity setting, and 77 were detected at the high-sensitivity level.
If you have an orthopedic implant, the TSA Web site at
http://www.tsa.gov recommends that you advise security officers that you have an implanted medical device or metal implant, so that a private screening and pat-down can be arranged.
http://travel.canoe.ca/Travel/News/2007/08/23/4441357-ap.html
Topic: Study: Half of orthopedic implants trigger airport metal detectors (Read 2134 times)