Magnetogastrography (MGG) is a non-invasive method of assessing gastric slow waves (SWs) by recording the resultant magnetic fields. MGG can capture both SW frequency and propagation, and identify SW dysrhythmias that are associated with motility disorders. However, the impact of the restricted spatial coverage and sensor density on SW propagation tracking performance is unknown. This study simulated MGG using multiple anatomically specific torso geometries and two realistic SW propagation patterns to determine the effect of different sensor configurations on tracking SW propagation. The surface current density mapping and center-of-gravity tracking methods were used to compare four magnetometer array configurations: a reference system currently used in GI research and three hypothetical higher density and coverage arrays. SW propagation patterns identified with two hypothetical arrays (with coverage over at least the anterior of the torso) correlated significantly higher with simulated realistic 3 cycle-per-minute SW activity than the reference array (p = 0.016, p = 0.005). Furthermore, results indicated that most of the magnetic fields that contribute to the performance of SW propagation tracking were located on the anterior of the torso as further increasing the coverage did not significantly increase performance. A 30% decrease in sensor spacing within the same spatial coverage of the reference array also significantly increased correlation values by approximately 0.50 when the signal-to-noise ratio was 5 dB. This study provides evidence that higher density and coverage sensor layouts will improve the utility of MGG. Further work is required to investigate optimum sensor configurations across larger anatomical variations and other SW propagation patterns.

胃磁图 (MGG) 是一种通过记录产生的磁场来评估胃慢波 (SW) 的非侵入性方法。MGG 可以捕获 SW 频率和传播，并识别与运动障碍相关的 SW 心律失常。然而，受限的空间覆盖范围和传感器密度对短波传播跟踪性能的影响尚不清楚。本研究使用多种解剖学特定的躯干几何形状和两种真实的 SW 传播模式模拟 MGG，以确定不同传感器配置对跟踪 SW 传播的影响。表面电流密度映射和重心跟踪方法用于比较四种磁力计阵列配置：目前用于 GI 研究的参考系统和三个假设的更高密度和覆盖范围的阵列。p = 0.016，p  = 0.005）。此外，结果表明，有助于 SW 传播跟踪性能的大部分磁场位于躯干的前部，因为进一步增加覆盖范围并没有显着提高性能。当信噪比为 5 dB 时，在参考阵列的相同空间覆盖范围内，传感器间距减少 30% 也会使相关值显着增加约 0.50。这项研究提供的证据表明，更高密度和覆盖范围的传感器布局将提高 MGG 的效用。需要进一步的工作来研究更大的解剖变化和其他 SW 传播模式的最佳传感器配置。