Skip to main content
Log in

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

  • Published:
Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

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).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adamek, R. J., Kuhn, K., Pfaffenbach, B., andWegener, M. (1995): ‘Electrogastrography in healthy subjects: evaluation of normal values, influence of age and gender’,Dig. Dis. Sci.,40, pp. 1445–1450

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allescher, H., Abraham-Fuchs, K., Wegener, P., Schneider, S., andClassen, M. (1992): ‘3-dimensional biomagnetic localization of electric activity of the human stomach—a new non-invasive diagnostic approach’,Gastroenterology,102, pp. A415

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradshaw, L. A., Allos, S. H., Wikswo, J. P. Jr. andRichards, W. O. (1997): ‘Correlation and comparison of magnetic and electric detection of small intestine electrical activity’,Am. J. Physiol.,272, pp. G1159-G1167

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen, J. D. Z., McCallum, R. W., andSchirmer, B. D. (1993): ‘Measurement of electrical activity of the human small intestine using surface electrodes’,IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng.,BME-40, pp. 598–602

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, J. D. Z., Richards, R. D., andMcCullum, R. W. (1994): ‘Identification of gastric contractions from the cutaneous electrogastrogram’,Am. J. Gastroenterol.,1, pp. 79–85

    Google Scholar 

  • Comani, S., Basile, M., Casiardi, S., Del Gratta, C., Di Luzio, S., Erné, S. N., Macri, M., Neri, M., Peresson, M., andRomani, G. L. (1992): ‘Extracorporeal direct magnetic measurement of gastric activity’,in Hoke, M., Erné, S. N., Okada, Y. C., andRomani, G. L. (Eds). ‘Biomagnetism: clinical aspects’ (Elsevier, Amsterdam), pp. 639–642

    Google Scholar 

  • Couturier, D., Debray, C., Rosé, C., andPaolaggi, J. (1972): ‘Electrical activity of the normal human stomach: A comparative study of recordings obtained from the serosal and mucosal sides’,Am. J. Dig. Dis.,17, pp. 969–976

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fleckenstein, P. (1978): ‘Migrating electrical spike activity in the fasting human small intestine’,Am. J. Dig. Dis.,23, pp. 769–775

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geldorf, H., Van Der Schee, E. J., andGrashuis, J. L. (1986): ‘Electrogastrographic characteristics of the interdigestive migrating complex in man”,Am. J. Physiol.,250, pp. G165-G171

    Google Scholar 

  • Golzarian, J., Staton, D. J., Wikswo, J. P., Friedman, R. N., andRichards, W. O. (1994): ‘Diagnosing intestinal ischemia using a noncontact SQUID’,Am. J. Surg.,167, pp. 586–592

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, J. W., Bellahsene, B. E., Reichelderfer, M., Webster, J. G., andBass, P. (1986): ‘Human electrogastrograms: Comparison of surface and mucosal recordings’,Dig. Dis. Sci.,1, pp. 33–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mintchev, M. P., Kingma, Y. J., andBowes, K. L. (1993): ‘Accuracy of cutaneous recordings of gastric electrical activity’,Gastroenterology,104, pp. 1273–1280

    Google Scholar 

  • Mintchev, M. P. andBowes, K. L. (1995): ‘Conoidal dipole model of electrical field produced by the human stomach’,Med. Biol. Eng. Comput.,33, pp. 179–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mirrizzi, N., Stella, R., andScafoglieri, U. (1986): ‘Model to stimulate gastric electrical control and response activity on the stomach wall and on the abdominal surface’,Med. Biol. Eng. Comput.,24, pp. 157–163

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petrie, R. J., Turnbull, G. K., Stroink, G., Van Leeuwen, P., Brandts, B., andVeldhuyzen Van Zanten, S. J. O. (1996): ‘Single and multichannel magnetic measurements of human gastrointestinal activity in pre- and post-prandial states’,Can. J. Gastroenterol., S111 (suppl. A), p. 10.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pfaffenbach, B., Adamek, R. J., Kuhn, K., andWegener, M. (1995): ‘Electrogastrography in healthy subjects: evaluation of normal values, influence of age and gender’,Dig. Dis. Sci.,40, pp. 1445–1450

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richards, W. O., Bradshaw, L. A., Garrard, C. L., Staton, D. J., Golzarian, J., Liu, F., Buchanan, S., andWikswo, Jr.J.P. (1996): ‘Magnetoenterography (MENG): Non-invasive measurement of bioelectric activity in human small intestine’,Dig. Dis. Sci.,41, pp. 2293–2301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smout, A. J. P. M., Van Der Schee, E. J., andGrashuis, J. L. (1980): ‘What is measured in electrogastrography?’,Dig. Dis. Sci.,25, pp. 179–187

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smout, A. J. P. M., Jebbink, H. J. A., Akermans, L. M. A., andBruijs, P. P. M. (1994): “Role of electrogastrography and gastric impedance measurements in evaluation of gastric emptying and motility’,Dig. Dis. Sci.,39, pp. 110S-113S

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stroink, G. (1985): ‘Magnetic measurements to determine dust loads and clearance rates in industrial workers and miners’,Med. Biol. Eng. Comput.,23, Suppl. Part 1, pp. 44–49

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to G. Stroink.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Turnbull, G.K., Ritcey, S.P., Stroink, G. et al. Spatial and temporal variations in the magnetic fields produced by human gastrointestinal activity. Med. Biol. Eng. Comput. 37, 549–554 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02513347

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02513347

Keywords

Navigation