医学领域1970年才开始有人利用超导体磁性计量器检测脑部病

变时的生物磁场变化。近年来发展较快，1983年意大利学者发明了磁性脑电图（MEG），应用单频道RF薄片超导量子干预装置（sQuID）的二级序列梯度计量显像描记，检查局限性癫痛患者。

    根据美国心脏协会杂志Circulation上的一项研究，一种切实可行的技术可使医生有能力对一个死产和婴儿猝死的常见病因进行诊断，并有可能在子宫中 对其进行治疗。这项研究是第一次在一个可观有风险人群中记录婴儿长QT综合征的电生理特征，并评价磁性心电图或心磁波描记图的诊断准确性。

    一个记录心脏的天然磁活动装置可帮助研究者识别未出生婴儿的异常心律。这项研究是第一次在一个可观有风险人群中记录婴儿长QT综合征的电生理特征。

    此项研究的主要研究者Ronald T. Wakai博士指出，“直到现在，医师们还无法在婴儿出生前诊断一种称作长QT综合征的严重心脏病，这项研究显示，你可以在子宫中诊断此类情况，并辨认有患威胁生命的心律失常可能的胎儿。研究同时显示，心律失常一经检测就可在子宫中被有效治疗。”

    Wakai指出，长QT综合征大约在每2000个新生儿中会出现一例，并且约占婴儿猝死和不明原因死产的10%,它是儿童和青少年猝死的一个主要原因。长QT使心脏倾向于发展为一种潜在致命心律，但如果此心律能够被辨认出，婴儿就有可能被成功治疗。应用电磁心电图，研究者们在子宫中诊断长QT的准确性为89%.

    研究者们评价了1996-2012间威斯康星洲和日本的两个地方的30位孕妇。他们根据长QT综合征家族史、兄弟姐妹中婴儿期或儿童期不明原因死亡或可疑的胎儿心律来选择患者。研究者们继而早在孕中期就在母亲腹部的放置了探针并收集了其数据。其中，21位婴儿被诊断为长QT综合征，6位婴儿存在危险心律，其中有一位在恶性心律被发现后早期就被生下。

    Wakai认为，电磁心电图会被在“不远的将来”得到实际应用，但准确完整的家族史仍是诊断长QT综合征最关键的方面。

    注：

    共同作者有Bettina F. Cuneo, M.D.; Janette F. Strasburger, M.D.; Suhong Yu, Ph.D.; Hitoshi Horigome, M.D.; Takayoshi Hosono, M.D.; 并且Akihiko Kandori, Ph.D. Author disclosures也在手稿中提到。这项研究由美国国立卫生研究院资助。

原文：

    Device may help doctors diagnose lethal heart rhythm in womb

    American Heart Association Rapid Access Journal Report

    November 11, 2013

    Study Highlights:

    A device that records the natural magnetic activity of the heart helped researchers identify abnormal heart rhythms in unborn babies.

    It's the first sizable study to document the electrical aspects of long QT syndrome in the womb.

    The condition is a common cause of sudden death in early life and stillbirth.

    DALLAS, Nov. 11, 2013 — A promising technology may enable doctors to diagnose and possibly treat in utero a common cause of stillbirth and sudden death in infants, according to research published in the American Heart Association journal Circulation.

    The study is the first to document the electrophysiological characteristics of fetal long QT syndrome and to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the magnetic EKG, or magnetocardiogram, in a sizable population of at-risk fetuses.

    “Until now, physicians were unable to diagnose a serious heart condition known as long QT syndrome until after birth,” said Ronald T. Wakai, Ph.D., principal investigator of the study and a professor of medical physics at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison. “Our study shows that you can diagnose the condition in utero and identify which fetuses are most likely to have life-threatening arrhythmia. We also showed that once detected the arrhythmia can be effectively treated in utero.”

    Long QT syndrome is present in about one in every 2,000 births and accounts for about 10 percent of sudden infant deaths and unexplained stillbirths, Wakai said. It's also a leading cause of sudden death in children and young **s. Long QT predisposes the heart to develop a potentially lethal heart rhythm, but fetuses can be successfully treated if the rhythm is identified.

    Using the magnetic EKG, the researchers diagnosed long QT in the womb with 89 percent accuracy.

    The researchers evaluated 30 pregnancies in 1996-2012 in Wisconsin and at two locations in Japan. They chose patients based on a family history of long QT syndrome, unexplained death of a sibling in infancy or childhood, or a suspicious fetal heart rhythm. They then collected data positioning a probe on the mother's abdomen as early as midway through the pregnancy.

    Long QT syndrome was diagnosed in 21 of the fetuses. Six of the fetuses had dangerous heart rhythms and one was delivered early after ominous rhythms were noted.

    Magnetic EKGs will be put into practical use in the “not-too-distant future,” but an accurate and complete family history remains the most critical aspect of diagnosing long QT syndrome, Wakai said.

    Co-authors are Bettina F. Cuneo, M.D.; Janette F. Strasburger, M.D.; Suhong Yu, Ph.D.; Hitoshi Horigome, M.D.; Takayoshi Hosono, M.D.; and Akihiko Kandori, Ph.D. Author disclosures are on the manuscript.

    The National Institutes of Health funded the study.

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    For updates and new science from Circulation, follow @CircAHA.