Abstract
Biomagnetic investigation is proving to be a powerful tool for the study of physiological and pathological activity in the human heart, and particularly in the brain, and shows promise of providing a new means for functional imaging of the human body. Measurements of magnetic fields at the body surface can provide new information directly related to the bioelectric source under investigation, with minor effects due to the interposed medium. The appropriate use of mathematical models achieved impressive results in the three-dimensional localization of active areas in zones of the cerebral cortex devoted to handling primary or higher levels of brain functions. The most promising results in the clinical situation regard the possibility of identifying the equivalent sources of epileptic foci.
Work partially supported by Progetto Finalizzato “Tecnologie Biomediche e Sanitarie” - CNR.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Baule, G.M. and R. McFee, Detection of the magnetic field of the heart. Am. Heart J., 66 (1963) 95.
Cohen, D., E. Edelsack and J. E. Zimmerman. Magnetocardiograms taken inside a shielded room with a superconducting point-contact magnetometer. Appl. Phys. Lett. 16 (1970) 278.
Romani, G.L., S.J. Williamson and L. Kaufman. Biomagnetic instrumentation. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 53 (1982) 1815.
Romani, G.L. Biomagnetism: an application of SQUID sensors to medicine and physiology. Physica, 126B (1984) 70.
Williamson, S.J. and L. Kaufman. Magnetic fields of the cerebral cortex, in: Biomagnetism, Eds. S.N. Ernè, H.D. Hahlbohm and H. Lubbig (Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York, 1981) 353.
Williamson, S.J. and L. Kaufman. Application of SQUID sensors to the investigation of neural activity in the human brain. IEEE Trans. Magn. MAG-19 (1983) 835.
Weinberg, H., P.A. Brickett, J. Vrba, A.A. Fife and M.B. Burbank. The use of a SQUID third order spatial gradiometer to measure magnetic fields of the brain. Annals of New York Academy of Sciences (1984) in press.
Fiumara, R., F. Campitelli, G.L. Romani, R. Leoni, M. Caporali, M. Zanasi, A. Cappiello, G. Fioriti and I. Modena. Neuromagnetic study of endogenous fields related to the contingent negative variation. Proc. 5th World Conference on Biomagnetism, Vancouver 1984, in press.
Berger, H. On the electroencephalogram of man. Arch. Psychiat. 87 (1929) 527.
Chapman, R.M., R. Ilmoniemi, S. Barbanera and G.L. Romani, Selective localization of alpha brain activity with neuromagnetic measurements. Electroencephalogr. Clin. Neurophysiol. (1984), in press.
Barth, D.S., W.H. Sutherling, J. Engel and J. Beatty. Neuromagnetic localization of epileptiform spike activity in the human brain. Science 218 (1982) 891.
Ricci, G.B., I. Modena, S. Barbanera, F. Campitelli and G.L. Romani. Tridimensional biomagnetic localization of epileptic foci. Acta Neurochirurgica, Suppl.33 (1984) 85.
Chapman, R.M., G.L. Romani, S. Barbanera, R. Leoni, I. Modena, G.B. Ricci and F. Campitelli. SQUID instrumentation and the relative covariance method for magnetic 3-D localization of pathological cerebral sources. Lett. Nuovo Cimento 38 (1983) 549.
Ricci, G.B., R. Leoni, G.L. Romani, F. Campitelli, S. Buonomo and I. Modena. 3-D neuromagnetic localization of sources of interictal activity in cases of focal epilepsy. Proc. 5th World Conference on Biomagnetism, Vancouver 1984, in press.
Barth, D.S., W. Sutherling, J. Engel and J. Beatty. Neuromagnetic evidence of spatially distributed sources underlying epileptiform spikes in the human brain. Science 223 (1984) 293.
Ernè, S.N., personal communication.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1987 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Romani, G.L., Leoni, R. (1987). Biomagnetism: A Non-Invasive New Approach for Imaging of Bioelectrical Sources in the Human Body. In: Guzzardi, R. (eds) Physics and Engineering of Medical Imaging. NATO ASI Series, vol 119. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3537-2_32
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3537-2_32
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8081-1
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-3537-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive