Spatial and temporal variations in the magnetic fields produced by human gastrointestinal activity

Magnetoenterography (MENG) is a new, non-invasive technique that measures gastrointestinal magnetic signals near the body surface. This study was undertaken to evaluate the temporal and spatial characteristics of the magnetic signals generated by gastric and duodenal slow wave activity. The gastrointestinal magnetic fields of eight normal subjects were measured for 60 minutes in both the fasting and fed state using 36 magnetic sensors simultaneously. The results were displayed as a succession of maps over time showing the temporal evolution of the spatial distribution of the signal over the upper abdomen. In all subjects, slow wave activity of the stomach centred at 3.0±0.5 cycles min−1 in both fasting and fed state was observed. The duodenal signal at 11.0±1.0 cycles min−1 was observed in four subjects. The spatial distribution of these two signals is distinctly different. The observed spatial and temporal variations are described in terms of a model used previously to explain the potentials observed in electrogastrography (EGG).

[1]  J. Webster,et al.  Human electrogastrograms , 2005, Digestive Diseases and Sciences.

[2]  K. Kuhn,et al.  Electrogastrography in healthy subjects , 1995, Digestive Diseases and Sciences.

[3]  M. Mintchev,et al.  Conoidal dipole model of electrical field produced by the human stomach , 1995, Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing.

[4]  Q. Al-Awqati,et al.  New amiloride analogue as hapten to raise anti-amiloride antibodies. , 1986, The American journal of physiology.

[5]  P. Fleckenstein,et al.  Migrating electrical spike activity in the fasting human small intestine , 1978, The American Journal of Digestive Diseases.

[6]  J. Chen,et al.  Identification of gastric contractions from the cutaneous electrogastrogram. , 1994, The American journal of gastroenterology.

[7]  B. Schirmer,et al.  Measurement of electrical activity of the human small intestine using surface electrodes , 1993, 1992 14th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.

[8]  J P Wikswo,et al.  Correlation and comparison of magnetic and electric detection of small intestinal electrical activity. , 1997, The American journal of physiology.

[9]  U. Scafoglieri,et al.  Model to simulate the gastric electrical control and response activity on the stomach wall and on the abdominal surface , 1986, Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing.

[10]  J. Riemann,et al.  Clinical comparison of extracorporeal piezoelectric lithotripsy (EPL) and intracorporeal electrohydraulic lithotripsy (EHL) in difficult bile duct stones , 1995, Digestive Diseases and Sciences.

[11]  C. Rozé,et al.  Electrical activity of the normal human stomach , 1972, The American Journal of Digestive Diseases.

[12]  William O. Richards,et al.  Magnetoenterography (MENG) , 1996, Digestive Diseases and Sciences.

[13]  M P Mintchev,et al.  Accuracy of cutaneous recordings of gastric electrical activity. , 1993, Gastroenterology.

[14]  L. Akkermans,et al.  Role of electrogastrography and gastric impedance measurements in evaluation of gastric emptying and motility , 1994, Digestive Diseases and Sciences.

[15]  J. Wikswo,et al.  Diagnosing intestinal ischemia using a noncontact superconducting quantum interference device. , 1994, American journal of surgery.

[16]  H. Feußner,et al.  Aerobilia and hypomotility of the sphincter of Oddi in a patient with chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction. , 1992, Gastroenterology.

[17]  J. L. Grashuis,et al.  What is measured in electrogastrography? , 1980, Digestive Diseases and Sciences.