IDEA #12R6MN Supersensitive-magnetocardiographic system for early recognition, precise diagnostics and monitoring of heart diseases

Magneto-Cardio-Graphy (MCG) is a contact-free non-invasive measurement method for early recognition, precise diagnostics and monitoring of heart diseases. The electrophysiological behavior of the heart may be altered with a disease or during drug intervention by changes in individual ion currents or disease-induced increased ion channel density. During myocardial activation and recovery there is a flow of ions, which creates changes of electrical and magnetic field around the heart. The hearts magnetic field is exquisitely sensitive to anisotropy ratios in the cardiac tissue. Therefore, magnetic detection and imaging of cardiac action currents is a new advanced technique for testing the heterogeneity, thus elucidating the effects of anisotropy in spread of action currents. Innovative Aspect and Main Advantages MCG is a modern imaging and quantitative analysis technique for detection of abnormal differences in electrophysiological cardiac phenomena. Based on advanced new imaging and numerical analysis of current density maps, MCG is a non-invasive and informative method which is already being used effectively in a variety of clinical settings. It is a useful tool for the application in clinical diagnosis, especially in cases where ECGs are non-diagnostic or not specific, such as when detecting baseline shifts in ischemic heart disease, noninvasive “His” potential recording (“His” – electrical transmitters in the heart), detection of arrhythmic mechanism defining reentrant circuits vs non reentrant mechanisms, diagnosis of fetal arrhythmias and prolongation of QT interval. Areas of Application MCG can be used for noninvasive diagnosis of cardiac events related to : coronary artery disease, cardiac ischemia and arrhythmia; safety of all medical drugs with respect to the drugs potential to cause heart arrhythmia or secondary undesireable side effcts; early detection of graft rejection after cardiac transplantation; pathophysiological role and therapeutic potential of therapeuthic angiogenesis (including stem cells).