Magnetoionography enhances diagnostic accuracy of magnetocardiography in coronary artery disease

Abstract Coronary artery disease (CAD) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Traditional diagnostic approaches, including coronary angiography and electrocardiography, have limitations in detecting ischemia and microvascular dysfunction, leading to misdiagnoses and unnecessary interventions. This study evaluates the efficacy of magnetoionography (MIG), a novel parameter extension of magnetocardiography (MCG), in improving the detection of CAD by analyzing potential intracellular cardiac currents. We conducted a prospective study including 93 CAD patients and 36 healthy controls. All CAD patients underwent non-invasive MCG measurements before coronary angiography. Conventional MCG parameters were assessed alongside retrospectively together with the MIG-derived indices, focusing on the characterization of intracellular ion currents during repolarization. MIG analysis significantly improved CAD detection accuracy. The inclusion of MIG parameters in a stepwise linear discriminant analysis increased sensitivity from 90.3% (MCG alone) to 93.5% and specificity from 76.5 to 85.3%. Key discriminative parameters included Heart Rate, Current Moment Dynamics, and Dipolarity Index for ST Segment (all stress). Our findings support the further study of MIG for its potential use in clinical practice as a non-invasive, highly sensitive diagnostic tool for CAD. Through intracellular cardiac currents captured by an MCG system, the MIG parameter extension may offer deeper pathophysiological insights, potentially enhancing risk stratification and early disease detection.