Magnetocardiographic mapping characteristic for diagnosis of ischemic heart disease

The authors have analyzed the possibility of MCG mapping for diagnosis of ischemic heart disease. A tangential arrow map, which is a 2-dimensional projected current distribution map, is produced by a 64-channel MCG system. The authors have compared the map for both normal subjects and patients with ischemic heart disease. The arrow maps and iso-integral maps of the normal hearts showed a simple pattern in the repolarization, but the ischemic hearts showed more complicated patterns, such as multiple dipoles, different current directions in the arrow map, and a distributed peak position and or a weakened iso-integral value in the iso-integral map. These patterns may be helpful in diagnosing ischemic heart disease without having to use an exercise test.