Philips Respironics is recalling 17 million masks used with BiPAP and CPAP machines over safety concerns with magnets

Philips Respironics is recalling 17 million masks used with BiPAP and CPAP machines over safety concerns with magnets

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Philips Respironics is recalling 17 million masks used with BiPAP and CPAP machines over safety concerns with magnets

The FDA is warning millions of Americans who suffer from sleep apnea of another major recall.

| MORE | More than 17 million masks used with sleep apnea machines recalled due to safety issues

Philips Respironics is recalling 17 million masks used with BiPAP and CPAP machines over safety concerns with magnets. The recalled masks are made with magnets to connect the mask to the sleeping device.

But for patients with implanted metallic devices like a pacemaker, doctors say magnets can interfere.

"Patients can become symptomatic by the changes the magnets create," said Dr. Dwight Reynolds, with OU Health.

Cardiologists at OU Health said magnets are a staple in the operating room. Reynolds told KOCO 5 that because they use electrosurgical instruments, they use magnets to manipulate the function of a patient's metallic medical implant.

"Magnets will keep the pacemaker from turning off. They'll keep the defibrillator from shocking," Reynolds said.

But doctors said outside of surgery, patients with implanted devices should stay six inches away from magnets.

"If someone gets close to a magnet and the pacemaker is not normally pacing the heart because it's not needed to pace the heart, then the magnets applied and some people can feel that and be concerned about that," Reynolds said.

On Tuesday, Philips Respironics recalled 17 million masks used in some BiPAP and CPAP machines because of the magnetic interference with patients who have medical implants or share a bed with someone who does.

The FDA reported 14 serious injuries so far, including pacemaker failure and arrhythmia.

Anyone with an implant device is encouraged to stop using the sleeping machine, keep it six inches away, and call your doctor. But the FDA said people who don't have implanted metal objects in their bodies can continue using the sleeping machine.

"Typically, what we tell patients is that unless they're in a medical environment, moving away from a magnet is a good idea," Reynolds said.

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