title: Passive vortex currents in magneto- and electrocardiography: comparison of magnetic and electric signal strengths.
abstract: Vortex currents may be of importance in the early diagnosis of myocardial infarction caused by an occlusion of a coronary artery. We investigated the influence of a passive vortex current distribution, modelled by different conductivities in a hollow cylinder, on the localization error and on the signal strength in both the magnetocardiogram and the electrocardiogram. The hollow cylinder was mounted in a realistically shaped physical torso phantom. A platinum dipole was inserted into the cylinder. The compartment boundaries were modelled with two special ionic exchange membranes. The conductivity ratio of the cylinder compartment to the torso compartment was varied from 0.25 to 100. We compared the simultaneously measured magnetic and electric signal strengths as a function of this conductivity ratio. We found that an increasing conductivity ratio causes only a slight increase (about 19%) of the magnetic signal strength but a strong decrease (about 81%) of the electric signal strength. Using a homogeneous torso model, the dipole localization errors were, depending on the conductivity ratio, up to 16 mm. In conclusion, passive vortex currents might partially explain the differences between magnetocardiographic and electrocardiographic recordings observed both experimentally and clinically.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Applied Sciences, Carl-Zeiss-Promenade 2, 07745 Jena, Germany.
authors.forename: Silvio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dutz
authors.forename: Matthias E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Bellemann
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Leder
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Haueisen
mesh_terms: D018780:Body Surface Potential Mapping; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D004566:Electrodes; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D004594:Electrophysiology; D006329:Heart Conduction System; D006801:Humans; D007477:Ions; D008280:Magnetics; D015225:Magnetoencephalography / Q000379:methods*; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D008954:Models, Biological; D008955:Models, Cardiovascular; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted
chemical_list: D007477:Ions