A compact heart scanner that reads magnetic fields could help paramedics or ER doctors quickly diagnose heart conditions.

Developed by researchers at the University of Leeds in Leeds, UK as a byproduct of their work in quantum mechanics, the machine, a small, portable magnetometer, works like a magnetocardiogram (MCG). Its extremely sensitive sensor detects changes in magnetic fields produced by nerves and blood flow in the heart that can indicate heart disease.

But unlike current MCG machines, which are complex, expensive, room-sized behemoths, this magnetometer is quite small, and can be shunted around on a cart, according to Ben Varcoe, one of the developers of the device and a professor of quantum information at Leeds.

Although MCGs are more powerful, because of its size and ease-of-use, this magnetometer could be used by paramedics, nurses or emergency room doctors.

"We didn't envisage replacing a full-blown, installed MCG," Varcoe tells DOTmed News. "We sort of thought it's a niche application -- where it would be useful is in rapid testing."

DISEASES

The device has only so far been used in simulated experiments, and not on humans or animals. But Varcoe believes it could have multiple applications in cardiology, especially in detecting heart rhythm irregularities.

"A really good application, one that I think everybody agrees is arrhythmia. Because [in] arrhythmia you're looking for current loops, [which] produce strong magnetic fields," he says.

It could also help detect ischemias, nodes where blood-flow to the heart is impeded, although the use here is more controversial. Varcoe says, to date, evidence in this area isn't conclusive.

But the heart isn't the only area where it could work -- it could also help diagnose problems in the brain, such as epilepsy; and even the spine.

"I think what you're looking for is somewhere that has a lot of nerve activity, because then you get lots of ion flow," he says.

RESEARCH HISTORY

Research came out of experiments to solve one of the outstanding mysteries of quantum mechanics: how quantum-level effects, such as something existing in two states at the same time, work at the atomic level but seemingly not at the macro-level.

In essence, Varcoe and his team wanted to see how big something has to be before it could largely be explained by classical physics.

To do this, they sought to construct an object by means of a maser, a laser made of microwave beams. This "one-atom" maser shoots out atoms one at a time. The researchers then try to see, to simplify things a bit, at what point the structure, as it grows, moves from the quantum level to the classical one.

The researchers measured this system with laser spectroscopy, a technique that uses a pulsed laser to analyze energy states of molecules. However, the results were blurred by noise. To identify the noise that was disturbing the results, Varcoe employed a magnetometer the team developed. By adding quantum coherence to a gas cell, they made the device "incredibly sensitive to magnetic field," he says. A remote coil is attached to pick up the fields that are generated and then relays them to the sensor.

After working on the device, it struck Varcoe that the sensor could be of some use in medicine. One of his graduate students at the time, Melody Blackman, has spent several years developing the magnetometer so it could be ready for clinical use. (She now works for a medical device company.)

"It's really an experiment in a corner of our lab," Varcoe explains. "It's not really suitable at this point for tests on animal or human subjects. I think probably what we'll do, the next phase of operation is to start waving it about in front of somebody seeing what precisely its clinical value will be."

As for the ongoing research on quantum mechanics, Varcoe says they are still working toward an answer, one that might involve quantum gravity.

"There have been several proposals by many people, that when an entanglement or an entangled state reaches a certain level of complexity, the interaction with the background quantumness of space which drives quantum gravity, causes the superposition to break down, so this is actually what we're starting to focus on," he says.