TCSUH.NET --> Magnetocardiography Research
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Magnetocardiography |
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| Non-invasive diagnostic methods that are sensitive but also specific enough to identify subjects with very early stages of heart disease would be an important addition to the technologies currently available. Magnetocardiography (MCG) is a very sensitive method for detecting cardiac bioelectrical activity non-invasively by an array of super-sensitive magnetic field sensors (superconductor sensors). It is one of the most promising applications of superconducting technology, although its clinical use have been somewhat limited, partly due to the lack of reliable hardware and inconclusive data interpretation, and partly due to the absence of clinically validated analysis procedures. |
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| TCSUH Magnetocardiography Project |
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| Our major goal is to evaluate the potential benefits of magnetic imaging of the heart and to provide the basis for understanding the factors that govern the spatial and temporal resolution of Superconducting Quantum Interference Device - SQUID images in biomagnetic studies on humans. The demonstration that this technology can be used to address an important clinical problem will provide the impetus for using related technologies to develop novel biomedical sensors and non-invasive diagnostic methods, spur development of the research infrastructure needed to support new or emerging related areas of superconducting technology. |
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| Our Approach |
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| At Biomagnetic Imaging Laboratory we focus on non-invasive mapping of weak biomagnetic signals around the thorax in unshielded hospital environment and examination of various factors that determine sufficient signal-to-noise ratio and spatio-temporal signal resolution for clinical use. We are engaged in exploring, developing and implementing innovative physical and mathematical formulations, and algorithms for analysis of clinical magnetocardiogram data, based on patient data recorded both at rest and under conditions of controlled cardiac stress (stress magnetocardiography), and validated by comparison with a "gold standard" for functional cardiac pathology such as SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) to assess MCG sensitivity and specificity. |
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| Our multidisciplinary research is aimed at developing clinically viable diagnostic methods, based on fast detection, acquisition, processing and visualization of cardiac magnetic signal, primarily focusing on how to process and map MCG data into clinically useful representations, and assess the extent, and severity of coronary heart disease both qualitatively, and quantitatively. |
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| Our Collaborators |
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Research is conducted both at TCSUH and at dedicated research facility located in the Methodist Hospital (Baylor College of Medicine).
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Fetal-Magnetocardiography |
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| There is a strong need to assess the physiological development of the fetus, as more pre- and full-term babies survive with various disorders. Important parameter for the diagnostic use is the basal fetal heart rate (FHR) disclosing the presence or absence of accelerations and decelerations and baseline variability associated with the development of Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). In the last few years, advantages and medical relevance of the fetal magnetocardiography (fetal-MCG) have been shown. Fetal-MCG is the measurement of magnetic fields (a few pT in amplitude) emitted by the fetal heart from small currents by electrically active cells of the heart muscle. The measurements are taken by SQUID sensors in one or several spatial locations above the pregnant abdomen and provide information which is complementary to that provided by direct, contact electro-physiological measurements. Typically, the quality of fetal-magnetocardiographic recording is significantly higher than that of the corresponding electric or Doppler recordings. Fetal biomagnetic signals are unaffected by poor electrical conductivity of the vernix caseosa, a waxy substance which forms on the fetal skin at about 25 weeks’ gestation and impedes the transmission of fetal bioelectric signals. |
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| TCSUH Fetal-Magnetocardiography Project |
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| The overall goal of this project is to develop reliable biosensing technologies based on Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUID) for non-invasive monitoring of the development of the fetus during second half of pregnancy, which is crucial to present and future clinical diagnostics but which may not be normally detected with present-day methods. |
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| Our Approach |
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| Our multidisciplinary research is aimed at developing clinically viable diagnostic methods, based on non-invasive detection and processing of fetal cardiac magnetic signal, primarily focusing on how to detect fetal magnetocardiograms in clinical settings and develop software methods to assess fetal heart rate variability. |
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| Our Collaborators |
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| Research is conducted both at TCSUH and at MSI Center (Memorial Hermann Hospital). |
