10 October 2005

The Department of Health was notified today by the manufacturer of several older generation implantable cardioverter defibrillators that some of its products may be affected by cosmic rays and may not function properly.

According to St. Jude Medical (Hong Kong) Ltd., the affected models are:

• Photon DR (Model V-230HV) (certain serial numbers)
• Photon Micro VR/DR (Models V-194/V-232)
• Atlas VR/DR (Models V-199/V-240)

No serious patient injury or death has been reported so far.

There are totally 34 patients implanted with the affected devices through the public hospitals in Hong Kong. The supplier has advised the Hospital Authority of this matter. All the affected patients will be informed by their doctors for follow up actions shortly.