Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a multi-channel imaging technique. It measures the magnetic field produced by electric currents inside the brain via an array composed of a large number of superconducting quantum interference devices sensors. These measurements are then used to estimate the location and the strength of those electric currents. The estimated quantities are superimposed with anatomic magnetic resonance images via coregistration to create the magnetic source images. This paper attempts to present a theoretic framework of MEG beamforming for magnetic source imaging by aiming at some fundamental issues and providing several new findings in the five related aspects: (i) physical concept, (ii) mathematical formulation, (iii) statistical description, (iv) beamforming principle, and (v) magnetic source images.

Date Published: 13 March 2009
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 7258, Medical Imaging 2009: Physics of Medical Imaging, 72584C (13 March 2009); doi: 10.1117/12.812149

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7258:
Medical Imaging 2009: Physics of Medical Imaging
Ehsan Samei; Jiang Hsieh, Editor(s)