IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng. 2020 Mar;28(3):756-765. doi: 10.1109/TNSRE.2020.2968148. Epub 2020 Jan 20.
Electroneurography has been an essential method for assessing peripheral nerve disorders for decades. During this procedure, a nerve is briefly electrically excited, and nerve conduction properties are identified by indirect means from the behavior of the innervated muscle. The magnetic field of the resulting muscle response can also be recorded by novel, uncooled magnetometers, which have become very attractive for different medical applications over recent years. These highly sensitive magnetometers are called optically pumped magnetometers.
We performed unaveraged and averaged magnetic signal detection of electrically evoked muscle responses using optically pumped magnetometers. We then discussed the suitability of this procedure for clinical applications in the context of diagnostic value and in direct comparison with the current electrical gold standard.
The magnetic detection of muscle responses is possible using optically pumped magnetometers. Our magnetic results (averaged and unaveraged) closely match those from electrical measurements.
Optically pumped magnetometers provide an alternative, contactless technology for electrode-based motor studies, but they are currently not ready for routine clinical use. This costly technology requires additional earth magnetic shielding because this is a prerequisite for proper operation. Currently, there are no diagnostic advantages over electrical measurements. Additionally, the required measurement setup and procedure are much more complicated.
In contrast to already published proof-of-principle studies for magnetomyography, we report in detail the results of the magnetic measurements of electrically evoked muscle responses in a shielded environment by applying supramaximal stimulation and finally validate our findings with electroneurography data as a reference.
神经电图检查已成为评估周围神经疾病的重要方法已有数十年。在此过程中，通过间接方式从受神经支配的肌肉的行为来识别神经的短暂电兴奋和神经传导特性。由此产生的肌肉反应的磁场也可以通过新型的非冷却磁力计记录，近年来，这种磁力计在不同的医学应用中变得非常有吸引力。这些高灵敏度的磁力计被称为光泵磁力计。
我们使用光泵磁力计进行未平均和平均的电诱发肌肉反应的磁信号检测。然后，我们根据诊断价值和与当前电金标准的直接比较，讨论了该程序在临床应用中的适用性。
使用光泵磁力计可以检测肌肉反应的磁场。我们的磁结果（平均和未平均）与电测量结果非常吻合。
光泵磁力计为基于电极的运动研究提供了一种替代的非接触技术，但目前还不能用于常规临床应用。这种昂贵的技术需要额外的地球磁场屏蔽，因为这是正常运行的前提。目前，与电测量相比没有诊断优势。此外，所需的测量设置和程序要复杂得多。
与已经发表的肌磁图的原理验证研究相比，我们详细报告了在屏蔽环境下通过施加最大刺激对电诱发肌肉反应进行磁测量的结果，并最终将我们的发现与神经电图数据作为参考进行验证。
