Three-dimensional electrical impedance tomography

THE electrical resistivity of mammalian tissues varies widely 1–5 and is correlated with physiological function 6–8 . Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) can be used to probe such variations in vivo , and offers a non-invasive means of imaging the internal conductivity distribution of the human bo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1996-04, Vol.380 (6574), p.509-512
Main Authors: Metherall, P, Barber, D. C, Smallwood, R. H, Brown, B. H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algorithms
Biological and medical sciences
Computer Simulation
Conductivity
Electric Impedance
Electrical resistivity
Humanities and Social Sciences
Impedance
Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects)
letter
Medical research
Medical sciences
Medical screening
Miscellaneous. Technology
multidisciplinary
Radiodiagnosis. Nmr imagery. Nmr spectrometry
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Tomography
Tomography - methods
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Summary:THE electrical resistivity of mammalian tissues varies widely 1–5 and is correlated with physiological function 6–8 . Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) can be used to probe such variations in vivo , and offers a non-invasive means of imaging the internal conductivity distribution of the human body 9–11 . But the computational complexity of EIT has severe practical limitations, and previous work has been restricted to considering image reconstruction as an essentially two-dimensional problem 10,12 . This simplification can limit significantly the imaging capabilities of EIT, as the electric currents used to determine the conductivity variations will not in general be confined to a two-dimensional plane 13 . A few studies have attempted three-dimensional EIT image reconstruction 14,15 , but have not yet succeeded in generating images of a quality suitable for clinical applications. Here we report the development of a three-dimensional EIT system with greatly improved imaging capabilities, which combines our 64-electrode data-collection apparatus 16 with customized matrix inversion techniques. Our results demonstrate the practical potential of EIT for clinical applications, such as lung or brain imaging and diagnostic screening 8 .
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/380509a0