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Magnetoenterography (MENG)

Noninvasive measurement of bioelectric activity in human small intestine

  • Motility, Nerve-Gut Interactions, Hormones, And Receptors
  • Published:
Digestive Diseases and Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The basic electrical rhythm (BER) of the gastrointestinal tract creates minute magnetic fields that have been measured in animals using a Superconducting QUantum Interference Device (SQUID) gradiometer. The aim of this study was to measure noninvasively the biomagnetic fields of human stomach and small intestine. Twenty-one human volunteers were studied using a 37-channel SQUID gradiometer positioned over the epigastrium and umbilicus. In one volunteer additional biomagnetic recordings were performed in order to map the spatial variation of the biomagnetic fields. Cyclical waveforms consistent with gastric BER [3.0 ± 0.5 cycles per minute (cpm)] and small intestine BER (10.26 ± 1.74 cpm) were seen in the epigastrium and umbilicus, respectively. The mapping study identified the expected frequency gradient (12.0 cpm in duodenum, 11.3 cpm in jejunum, to 9.7 cpm in ileum) within the small intestine. Noninvasive recordings of human gastric and small intestinal BER can be obtained using a SQUID gradiometer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. From the Departments of Surgery at the Veterans Administration Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee

    William O. Richards MD

  2. the Living State Physics Group, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee

    L. Alan Bradshaw PhD, Daniel J. Staton PhD & John P. Wikswo Jr. PhD

  3. Biomagnetic Technologies, Inc., San Diego, California

    Fei Liu MS & Scott Buchanan PhD

  4. Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Room 3662, The Vanderbilt Clinic, 37232-5732, Nashville, Tennessee

    William O. Richards MD & C. Louis Garrard MD

Authors
  1. William O. Richards MD
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  2. L. Alan Bradshaw PhD
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  3. Daniel J. Staton PhD
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  4. C. Louis Garrard MD
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  5. Fei Liu MS
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  6. Scott Buchanan PhD
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  7. John P. Wikswo Jr. PhD
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Richards, W.O., Alan Bradshaw, L., Staton, D.J. et al. Magnetoenterography (MENG). Digest Dis Sci 41, 2293–2301 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02100117

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02100117

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