IFCN-endorsed practical guidelines for clinical magnetoencephalography (MEG)

• Published in: CLINICAL NEUROPHYSIOLOGY Vol. 129; no. 8; pp. 1720 - 1747
• Main Authors: Hari, Riitta, Baillet, Sylvain, Barnes, Gareth, Burgess, Richard, Forss, Nina, Gross, Joachim, Hämäläinen, Matti, Jensen, Ole, Kakigi, Ryusuke, Mauguière, François, Nakasato, Nobukatzu, Puce, Aina, Romani, Gian-Luca, Schnitzler, Alfons, Taulu, Samu
• Format: Journal Article Publication
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01.08.2018; Elsevier
• Subjects: Alzheimer’s disease and dementia; Analysis and interpretation; Brain Mapping - methods; Brain Mapping - standards; Brain maturation and development; Clinical neurophysiology; Dyslexia; Electroencephalography; Electroencephalography - methods; Electroencephalography - standards; Epilepsy; Evoked and event-related responses; Guidelines; Hepatic encephalopathy; Humans; Magnetoencephalography; Magnetoencephalography - methods; Magnetoencephalography - standards; Models, Neurological; Nervous System Diseases - diagnosis; Nervous System Diseases - physiopathology; Neural oscillations; Neuropsychiatric disorders; Pain; Parkinson’s disease; Practice Guidelines as Topic - standards; Preoperative evaluation; Source modeling; Spontaneous brain activity; Stroke; Transient and steady-state responses; Traumatic brain injury; Source modeling; Analysis and interpretation; Traumatic brain injury; MNE; MRI; Epilepsy; tSSS; Electroencephalography; STN; Alzheimer’s disease and dementia; Guidelines; Neural oscillations; Pain; SNR; Clinical neurophysiology; CMC; Dyslexia; BOLD; CKC; ISI; Brain maturation and development; MUSIC; AEF; Stroke; SQUID; Magnetoencephalography; EEG; ICA; ECD; Spontaneous brain activity; MEG; DCM; fMRI; Artifacts; SSS; Neuropsychiatric disorders; SEF; Evoked and event-related responses; ECoG; IES; VEF; IAP; TMS; HE; Transient and steady-state responses; Preoperative evaluation; Parkinson’s disease; Hepatic encephalopathy
• ISSN: 1388-2457; 1872-8952; 1872-8952
• DOI: 10.1016/j.clinph.2018.03.042

•The main principles of magnetoencephalography (MEG) and the value of combined MEG and EEG are discussed.•Established and some potential future clinical applications of MEG are reviewed.•Practical guidelines for clinical MEG examinations are presented. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) records weak magnetic fields outside the human head and thereby provides millisecond-accurate information about neuronal currents supporting human brain function. MEG and electroencephalography (EEG) are closely related complementary methods and should be interpreted together whenever possible. This manuscript covers the basic physical and physiological principles of MEG and discusses the main aspects of state-of-the-art MEG data analysis. We provide guidelines for best practices of patient preparation, stimulus presentation, MEG data collection and analysis, as well as for MEG interpretation in routine clinical examinations. In 2017, about 200 whole-scalp MEG devices were in operation worldwide, many of them located in clinical environments. Yet, the established clinical indications for MEG examinations remain few, mainly restricted to the diagnostics of epilepsy and to preoperative functional evaluation of neurosurgical patients. We are confident that the extensive ongoing basic MEG research indicates potential for the evaluation of neurological and psychiatric syndromes, developmental disorders, and the integrity of cortical brain networks after stroke. Basic and clinical research is, thus, paving way for new clinical applications to be identified by an increasing number of practitioners of MEG.