Electrical Impedance Tomography: Tissue Properties to Image Measures

Abstract

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) uses electrical stimulation and measurement at the body surface to image the electrical properties of internal tissues. It has the advantage of noninvasiveness and high temporal resolution but suffers from poor spatial resolution and sensitivity to electrode movement and contact quality. EIT can be useful to applications, where there are conductive contrasts between tissues, fluids, or gasses, such as imaging of cancerous or ischemic tissue or functional monitoring of breathing, blood flow, gastric motility, and neural activity. The past decade has seen clinical application and commercial activity using EIT for ventilation monitoring. Interpretation of EIT-based measures is complex, and this review paper focuses on describing the image interpretation "pathway." We review this pathway, from Tissue Electrical Properties, EIT Electrodes & Hardware, Sensitivity, Image Reconstruction, Image Processing to EIT Measures. The relationship is discussed between the clinically relevant parameters and the reconstructed properties. An overview is given of areas of EIT application and of our perspectives for research and development.Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) uses electrical stimulation and measurement at the body surface to image the electrical properties of internal tissues. It has the advantage of noninvasiveness and high temporal resolution but suffers from poor spatial resolution and sensitivity to electrode movement and contact quality. EIT can be useful to applications, where there are conductive contrasts between tissues, fluids, or gasses, such as imaging of cancerous or ischemic tissue or functional monitoring of breathing, blood flow, gastric motility, and neural activity. The past decade has seen clinical application and commercial activity using EIT for ventilation monitoring. Interpretation of EIT-based measures is complex, and this review paper focuses on describing the image interpretation "pathway." We review this pathway, from Tissue Electrical Properties, EIT Electrodes & Hardware, Sensitivity, Image Reconstruction, Image Processing to EIT Measures. The relationship is discussed between the clinically relevant parameters and the reconstructed properties. An overview is given of areas of EIT application and of our perspectives for research and development.

Keywords: Biomedical measurement; Blood; Conductivity; Electrodes; Monitoring; Tomography.