By Sarah Wickline Wallan
LAS VEGAS — Children with cobalt chrome spinal fusion implants, but not stainless steel, triggered airport security alarms 24% of the time, researchers reported here.
Out of 50 pediatric spinal fusion patients, 24% of those with cobalt chrome versus none of the children with stainless steel implants set off Transportation Security Administration (TSA) metal detector or body scanner alarms, Regina P. Woon, MPH, of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, reported at the annual meeting of the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons. 
“In our series, cobalt chrome constructs are more likely to incur additional airport security screening when compared with more traditional stainless steel constructs,” Woon said in her presentation at the meeting.
However, she said, one of the patients in the study who set off the alarm in a U.S. airport reported going through airport security outside the country where she did not trigger the alarm. “We’re not exactly sure what the levels of detection are for the various airports,” Woon said.