Measurement of T wave in magnetocardiography using tunnel magnetoresistance sensor

Abstract

Several critical clinical applications of magnetocardiography (MCG) involve its T wave. The T wave’s accuracy directly affects the diagnostic accuracy of MCG for ischemic heart disease and arrhythmogenic. Tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) attracts attention as a new MCG measurement technique. However, the T waves measured by TMR are often drowned in noise. The accuracy of T waves needs to be discussed to determine the clinical value of MCG measured by TMR. This study uses an improved empirical mode decomposition (EMD) algorithm and averaging to eliminate the noise in the MCG measured by TMR. The MCG signals measured by TMR are compared with MCG measured by the optically pumped magnetometer (OPM) to judge its accuracy. Using the MCG measured by OPM as a reference, the relative errors in time and amplitude of the T wave measured by TMR are 3.4% and 1.8%, respectively. This is the first demonstration that TMR can accurately measure the time and amplitude of MCG T waves. The ability to provide reliable T wave data illustrates the significant clinical application value of TMR in MCG measurement.