Worry-Free Vacation
A long awaited holiday is finally approaching. If you have a pacemaker, ICD or CRT device, you may be wondering if there are any precautions or restrictions on travel. Don’t worry! Traveling is as easy for those with a heart device as for those without. Whether you are flying, sailing, taking a train or driving, travel is generally easy. Make sure that you have your patient identification card, your medications and important phone numbers for emergencies on you at all times and consult your physician about your travel plans.
Contact For Patients
BIOTRONIK, Inc.
marketing@biotronik.com
1-800-547-0394
Selecting Your Travel Destination
Consult Your Physician
Traveling by Car or Motorcycle
At the Airport
Stay in Touch with Your Doctor, Even from Abroad
Patient Travel Guides
Selecting Your Travel Destination
Cardiovascular diseases can be aggravated by hot, humid and tropical climates or at high elevations. If you have high blood pressure, coronary artery disease or cardiac arrhythmia, you should opt for destinations in regions with milder climates. Staying at elevations of over 9,800 feet is not advisable for patients with cardiovascular disease. When choosing where to go, also consider the quality of local health care.
Consult Your Physician
Before you travel, consult with your doctor about if, and to what extent, you are medically fit to travel, and in which situations you should go to a hospital abroad. Your physician can also provide information on hospitals at your travel destination that have experience with BIOTRONIK implants and can carry out tests if necessary.
Traveling by Car or Motorcycle
Air or rail travel is generally better tolerated than long car or motorcycle trips. Contact your physician before you embark on your vacation to check how fit you are to travel and drive, as there may be a necessary observation period, depending on your heart disease and therapy.
At the Airport
If you wish to fly, please inform the security staff or ground crew at the airport that you have an implanted heart device and present your PATIENT IDENTIFICATION CARD . The staff will instruct you what to do at the security checks. Metal detectors do not affect the device if you pass through them quickly. Your implant does, however, contain metal, and could trigger an alarm as you walk through a metal detector. Please also ask the staff not to scan you with a hand-held metal detector, or to avoid the chest area. You will then be manually searched.
Stay in Touch with Your Doctor, Even from Abroad
Whether you have a pacemaker, heart monitor, ICD or CRT device, innovative BIOTRONIK HOME MONITORING is now available for all therapies. This system allows heart devices to send diagnostic data wirelessly to an external patient device, the CARDIOMESSENGER . This ensures that even if you are in remote areas, your physician can keep an eye on your heart function at all times. Home Monitoring is available in more than 160 countries worldwide.
Patient Travel Guides
Patients with an implanted BIOTRONIK pacemaker, ICD or CRT device can search our database for a hospital at their travel destination where they can go for follow-up care if necessary. Click HERE for our travel guides.