Fetal Magnetocardiography Using Non-cryogenic Magnetic Field Sensors

描述（由申请人提供）：虽然可用于成人应用的诊断技术数量持续增长，但适用于胎儿评估的技术仍然缺乏。特别是，胎儿心脏电生理学的无创评估一直没有常规的可能，尽管几十年的胎儿心电图研究。最近，一些研究小组已经证明了胎儿心磁图（fMCG）的有效性，胎儿心电图的磁性模拟，作为一种新的方法来评估胎儿心率，心律和传导。在过去的几年里，在证明快速消费品的诊断功效以及磁力计技术方面取得了快速进展。该项目的目标是将完整的胎儿MCG系统的价格从目前的约100万美元降低到10万美元以下。我们建议开发的系统是基于新的低成本，室温原子磁力计，就像现有的超导磁力计一样灵敏。在第一阶段，我们通过临床环境中的独立评估确定了我们方法的可行性。在第二阶段，我们将开发一个全面的交钥匙系统，为商业化做好准备。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): While the number of diagnostic technologies available for adult applications continues to grow, there remains a paucity of technologies suitable for fetal evaluation. In particular, noninvasive assessment of fetal cardiac electrophysiology has not been routinely possible despite many decades of fetal ECG research. Recently, a number of groups have demonstrated the efficacy of fetal magnetocardiography (fMCG), the magnetic analog of fetal ECG, as a new method of assessing fetal heart rate, rhythm, and conduction. The last few years have seen rapid progress in demonstrating the diagnostic efficacy of fMCG, as well as in magnetometer technology. The goal of this project is to reduce the price of a complete fetal MCG system from approximately $1M at present to below $100k. The system we propose to develop is based on new low-cost, room-temperature atomic magnetometers that are just as sensitive as existing superconducting magnetometers. During Phase I we established the feasibility of our approach through independent evaluation in a clinical environment. During Phase II we will develop a full-scale, turn-key system that is ready for commercialization.