Multichannel biomagnetic system for study of electrical activity in the brain and heart.
The authors designed a multichannel system for noninvasive measurement of the extremely weak magnetic fields generated by the brain and the heart. It uses a flat array of 37 superconducting magnetic field-sensing coils connected to sophisticated superconducting quantum interference devices. To prevent interference from external electromagnetic fields, the system is operated inside a shielded room. Complete sets of coherent data, even from spontaneous events, can be recorded. System performance was evaluated with phantom measurements and evoked-response studies. A spatial resolution of a few millimeters and a temporal resolution of a millisecond were obtained. First results in patients with partial epilepsy and investigations of the cardiac conductive pathway indicate that biomagnetism is now ready for a systematic clinical evaluation. Interpretation of measurements was facilitated by highlighting biomagnetically localized electrical activity in three-dimensional digital magnetic resonance images.
Schneider
S
S
Central Research Laboratories, Siemens, Erlangen, Federal Republic of Germany.
Hoenig
E
E
Reichenberger
H
H
Abraham-Fuchs
K
K
Moshage
W
W
Oppelt
A
A
Stefan
H
H
Weikl
A
A
Wirth
A
A
D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D004562:Electrocardiography; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D055590:Electromagnetic Phenomena; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000175:diagnosis; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D014927:Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis