Quote:
Originally Posted by Thadmn
I used to work for Guidant and now work for St. Jude Medical, both manufacturers of pacemakers and ICDs. The cases or "cans" of these devices are made of titanium to reduce weight and are totally sealed. After being welded together, they are helium leak tested. It is OK to swim with them, however the "can" is quite thin and I would think that the pressure while diving would cause the sides to bow inwards and could possibly cause damage to the batterries, capacitors, and other components. If you know which company made it, most likely Medtronic, Guidant (now Boston Sciantific), or St Jude Medical, you could call and ask. I'm pretty sure that the answer will be,"we don't reccomend it".
I have thought about this very question myself and have thought that if they totally encapsulated the insides with epoxy, it would be possible. There are reasons that they don't do this because you can't expose the batteries and capacitors to the temperatures required to cure the epoxy.
I'm sorry to say this, but I don't think diving with it would be a wise move. Snorkeling would probably be alright though.
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Thanks for that. The model I have is a St Judes. The initial answer I got from the St Judes rep was that the pressure would NOT be a problem. The bigger concern would be the device firing during a dive. This is definitely NOT something that has been subject to a controlled study so I'm fairly certain that most feedback will be "opinion" and not proven fact.
I'm still curious to know if there is anyone out there who has actually dove with an ICD.
Thanks again for your feedback though. Truly appreciate it.