Biomagnetism

Abstract

Biomagnetic fields are generated by the same phenomenon as the bioelectric fields. They are induced by the electric currents generated by the activating tissues. These are primarily nerve and muscle tissues. The theoretical difference between these fields is based on the distribution of the elements of the volume sources generating these fields. Bioelectric and biomagnetic fields are generated by the flux and vortex source distributions, respectively. Although the flux and vortex source distributions are independent, the fields they generate are only partially independent. This means that with the biomagnetic measurement it is possible to obtain only partially new independent information on the source in addition to the bioelectric measurement. This is the fundamental issue in the application of biomagnetic methods and this will be discussed in detail in this article. In addition to the theoretical difference, bioelectric and biomagnetic methods have technical differences due to the different technologies that they use. This issue is also discussed in this article.