M. Sc. Erik Engelhardt Room: C-01.021 (ZEVS) Kaiserstraße 2, 24143 Kiel, Germany Phone: +49 431 880-6132 E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ORCID: 0000-0002-7012-7707 Google scholar: Link

Research: Magnetoelectric Sensor Systems for Cardiologic Applications

Current standard electrocardiography is a useful and easily applicable method that has been in clinical use for more than hundred years. However, it is hampered by low spatial resolution. Thus, precise electro-anatomical mapping of arrhythmias still has to be conducted by invasive catheterization. The main long-term objective of this project is to answer the question whether invasive mapping of arrhythmic substrates (current standard) can be replaced by a non-invasive alternative, namely analyses using signals obtained from ME sensors combined with electric measurements.

We will thus investigate if a multi-channel combined ECG/MCG (electrocardiogram/magnetocardiogram) approach allows for reliable non-invasive localization of the origin of cardiac arrhythmias. This is becoming even more important, as recently stereotactic body radiation therapy was successfully applied for ablation of ventricular tachycardia, promising a completely non-invasive way to cure arrhythmias in the future.

To perform the required measurements with a multitude of magnetic (both ME sensors originating from this CRC and already established systems) as well as electric sensors, individual real-time signal-to-noise ratio estimations of all involved sensors will be investigated that permit optimal sensor placement, sensor signal combination, and parameter extraction. An appropriate automatic signal quality analysis should guarantee a minimum recording time for patients. To answer these research questions, forward modelling and a solution of the inverse problem is necessary. To evaluate the accuracy and clinical utility of this approach, we plan to compare it with results from electrophysiological studies (current standard) in 3 different groups of patients:

• premature ventricular contractions,
• idiopathic ventricular tachycardia,
• ischemic ventricular tachycardia.

For each patient, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) for anatomy and electric and magnetic measurements will be performed.

Related topics:

• Kalman Filter
• Machine learning
• Sensor fusion
• Biomagnetic modelling
• Biomagnetic measurements

Further interests:

• Software Engineering
• Real-time digital signal processing
• Supervised machine learning
• Reinforcement learning

Short CV

Publications

{loadpapers:authors=88:categories=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10:years=any:months=any:lab=any:style=olreversed}