Magnetocardiogram Difference Between Healthy Subjects and Ischemic Heart Disease Patients

Magnetocardiography (MCG) is a device to measure the weak magnetic fields generated from the heart using a superconducting quantum interference device sensor which converts magnetic flux to voltage and is the most sensitive sensor to detect magnetism. In the previous study, authors found that the values of MCG parameters of patients with non-ST-segment myocardial infarction were greater than those of age-matched controls (AMCs). In this study, we selected five different groups of patients considering their severity. We compared 10 MCG parameters recorded from 19 healthy young subjects (26.8plusmn13.4 years), 19 age-matched healthy subjects (55.4plusmn10.7), 23 stable angina patients (56.4plusmn7.6 years) with no stenosis (=0% on coronary angiogram) and normal echocardiogram, 24 unstable angina patients (61.9plusmn9.8 years) with severe stenosis (ges70%), and 20 Q-wave myocardial infarction (QMI) patients (57.3plusmn11.2 years) with severe stenosis (ges70%). To record the magnetic signals from a heart with minimal noise, a magnetically shielded room was used. The number of abnormal parameters was counted and magnetic field map (MFM) patterns were compared. As a result, young healthy subjects showed the smallest values in all 10 MCG parameters and QMI subjects showed the greatest values. Significant difference was found from dynamics parameters such as current angle, map angle, and distance dynamics between young healthy controls and AMC groups (p>0.05). No significant difference was found from AMC and stable angina groups even though parameter values of stable angina were slightly greater than those of AMC. Significant difference was found from five parameters between AMC and QMI subjects. These results are supportive to the previous analysis. In addition, the abnormal MCG parameters increased when the ischemic disease was worsened. Abnormal MFM patterns were easily found from QMI patients than stable angina pectoris. It is clear that abnormal MFM and parameters increase when the status of ischemic heart disease patients are getting worse.