System and approach to detecting of gastric slow wave and environmental noise suppression based on optically pumped magnetometer

Gastric slow waves (SWs) are commonly used for the quantitative assessment of gastric functional disorders. Compared with surface electrogastrography, using of magnetic signals to record SWs can achieve higher-quality signal recording. In this study, we discovered that optically pumped magnetometers (OPM) based on the spin exchange relaxation-free method have comparable weak magnetic detection capabilities to superconducting quantum interference devices but without liquid helium cooling. However, owing to the inevitable interference of low-frequency environmental drift, the characteristic features of SW are obscured, greatly increasing the difficulty in detecting gastric magnetic signals. Therefore, in this study, we constructed an OPM Magnetogastrography (OPM-MGG). We proposed an adaptive filtering architecture combined with environmental drift suppression and a non-stationary signal decomposition method for extracting SW signals. Through controlled human experiments, the results demonstrated that our testing system successfully extracted SW signals in the frequency range of 2–4 cycles per minute. The extracted SW signals exhibited consistent power and time–frequency characteristics with the reported results. This study validates the feasibility of (1) using the OPM-MGG system for capturing SW signals and (2) the proposed processing strategies for identifying ultralow-frequency SW signals. In conclusion, the OPM-MGG system and the signal extraction strategies developed in this study have the potential to provide a wearable technology for bioweak magnetic field measurements, offering new opportunities for both research and clinical applications.