Global and regional degree of obstruction determined by electrical impedance tomography in patients with obstructive ventilatory defect.

BACKGROUND: Electrical impedance tomography is a continuous imaging method capable of measuring lung volume changes. The purpose of this study was to examine whether EIT was capable of evaluating the degree of obstructive ventilatory defect (OVD) on the global and regional level. METHODS: 41 healthy subjects with no lung diseases and 67 subjects suffering from obstructive lung diseases were examined using EIT and spirometry during forced vital capacity (FVC) maneuver. The subjects were divided into control group (n = 41), early airway obstruction group (n = 26), mild group (n = 17), moderate group (n = 16) and severe group (n = 8) according to the degree of obstruction. Forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) and FEV1/FVC were determined by EIT. The mode index (MI) was proposed to evaluate the degree of global and regional obstruction; the effectiveness of MI was validated by evaluating posture related change of lung emptying capacity in sitting and supine postures; the degree of regional obstruction was determined according to the cut-off values of MI obtained from receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis; regional obstruction was located in the four-quadrant region of interest (ROI) and the contour-map ROI with contour lines at the cut-off values of MI. RESULTS: Significant differences were found between different groups (P<0.05) and the global MI was 0.93±0.03, 0.86±0.05, 0.81±0.09, 0.73±0.09 and 0.60±0.11 (mean ±SD), respectively. The cut-off MI value was 0.90, 0.83, 0.77, and 0.65, respectively. CONCLUSION: The results indicated the potential of EIT to evaluate the degree of obstruction in patients with obstructive ventilatory defect on the global and regional level.

Static imaging of the electrical impedance tomography on cylinder physical phantom.

Static imaging of the electrical impedance tomography can obtain the absolute electrical conductivity distribution at one section of the subject. The test is performed on a cylinder physical phantom in which slim rectangle, hollow cylinder, small rectangle or three cylinders are selected to simulate complex conductivity perturbation objects. The measurement data is obtained by a data acquisition system with 32 compound electrodes. A group of static images of conductivity distribution in the cylinder phantom are reconstructed by the modified Newton-Raphson algorithm with two kinds of regularization methods. The results show correct position, size, conductivity difference, and similar shape of the perturbation objects in the images.

Correlation between the dielectric properties and biological activities of human ex vivo hepatic tissue.

Dielectric properties are vital biophysical features of biological tissues, and biological activity is an index to ascertain the active state of tissues. This study investigated the potential correlation between the dielectric properties and biological activities of human hepatic tissue with prolonged ex vivo time through correlation and regression analyses. The dielectric properties of 26 cases of normal human hepatic tissue at 10 Hz to 100 MHz were measured from 15 min after isolation to 24 h at 37 °C with 90% humidity. Cell morphologies, including nucleus area (NA) and alteration rate of intercellular area (ICAR), were analyzed as indicators of biological activities. Conductivity, complex resistivity, and NA exhibited opposing changes 1 h after isolation. Relative permittivity and ex vivo time were not closely correlated (p > 0.05). The dielectric properties measured at low frequencies (i.e. <1 MHz) were more sensitive than those measured at high frequencies in reflecting the biological activity of ex vivo tissue. Highly significant correlations were found between conductivity, resistivity and the ex vivo time (p < 0.05) as well as conductivity and the cell morphology (p < 0.05). The findings indicated that establishing the correlation between the dielectric properties and biological activities of human hepatic tissue is of great significance for promoting the role of dielectric properties in biological science, particularly in human biology.

Dielectric properties of human liver from 10 Hz to 100 MHz: normal liver, hepatocellular carcinoma, hepatic fibrosis and liver hemangioma.

The dielectric properties of human liver were determined by characterization of tissue absorption and coupling of electromagnetic energy in the electromagnetic field. In this study the ex-vivo dielectric properties of human hepatocellular carcinoma (well and moderately differentiated), liver hemangioma, hepatic fibrosis (stages S1 and S2), and normal liver tissue were measured and analyzed over the frequency range of 10 Hz to 100 MHz. The dielectric properties over the frequency range can reflect tissue information including biological macromolecules, vesicles, and cellular membrane; these information aids in distinguishing different physiological states and lesions. The ex-vivo conductivity, permittivity, resistivity, as well as the characteristic parameters between the lesions and normal liver were analyzed and their differences were also verified. The data can contribute to developing bioelectric applications for tissue diagnostics and creating more accurate computer models for medical applications.

Exploratory study on the methodology of fast imaging of unilateral stroke lesions by electrical impedance asymmetry in human heads.

Stroke has a high mortality and disability rate and should be rapidly diagnosed to improve prognosis. Diagnosing stroke is not a problem for hospitals with CT, MRI, and other imaging devices but is difficult for community hospitals without these devices. Based on the mechanism that the electrical impedance of the two hemispheres of a normal human head is basically symmetrical and a stroke can alter this symmetry, a fast electrical impedance imaging method called symmetrical electrical impedance tomography (SEIT) is proposed. In this technique, electrical impedance tomography (EIT) data measured from the undamaged craniocerebral hemisphere (CCH) is regarded as reference data for the remaining EIT data measured from the other CCH for difference imaging to identify the differences in resistivity distribution between the two CCHs. The results of SEIT imaging based on simulation data from the 2D human head finite element model and that from the physical phantom of human head verified this method in detection of unilateral stroke.

The correlation between dielectric properties and microstructure of femoral bone in rats with different bone qualities.

Bone dielectric properties (DP) have been extensively studied. However, little literature has reported DP of bone from identical anatomical site under different status and its correlation with microstructure. Therefore, interrelationship between DP and microstructure of rat femurs with varying bone qualities (normal, osteoporotic and partially osteoporotic) was investigated. Diabetic osteoporosis was induced by streptozotocin (STZ) injection. 8 normal rats as control group together with 16 diabetic rats equally assigned to diabetes mellitus (DM) and DM treated by pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF) (DM + PEMF) group were used. DM + PEMF group was daily exposed to PEMF of 15 Hz, 1 mT for 8 weeks. After sacrifice, the femurs were harvested for microCT analysis and dielectric measurements (from 10 Hz to 1 MHz). It was found that DP (conductivity and permittivity) altered after PEMF stimulation improved femoral microstructures (p < 0.01). Significant correlations were found between microstructure indices (MI) and conductivity in the full frequency range (|r| ≥ 0.64, n = 24) as well as permittivity in middle and low frequencies (|r| ≥ 0.52, n = 24, from 1 Hz to 1 kHz). The findings demonstrated the good correlation between DP and MI of femoral bone in rats, which makes it possible to distinguish bone under different status and predict MI variation through dielectric measurements.

A new head phantom with realistic shape and spatially varying skull resistivity distribution.

Brain electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is an emerging method for monitoring brain injuries. To effectively evaluate brain EIT systems and reconstruction algorithms, we have developed a novel head phantom that features realistic anatomy and spatially varying skull resistivity. The head phantom was created with three layers, representing scalp, skull, and brain tissues. The fabrication process entailed 3-D printing of the anatomical geometry for mold creation followed by casting to ensure high geometrical precision and accuracy of the resistivity distribution. We evaluated the accuracy and stability of the phantom. Results showed that the head phantom achieved high geometric accuracy, accurate skull resistivity values, and good stability over time and in the frequency domain. Experimental impedance reconstructions performed using the head phantom and computer simulations were found to be consistent for the same perturbation object. In conclusion, this new phantom could provide a more accurate test platform for brain EIT research.

Design and optimization of multi-class series-parallel linear electromagnetic array artificial muscle.

Skeletal muscle exhibiting complex and excellent precision has evolved for millions of years. Skeletal muscle has better performance and simpler structure compared with existing driving modes. Artificial muscle may be designed by analyzing and imitating properties and structure of skeletal muscle based on bionics, which has been focused on by bionic researchers, and a structure mode of linear electromagnetic array artificial muscle has been designed in this paper. Half sarcomere is the minimum unit of artificial muscle and electromagnetic model has been built. The structural parameters of artificial half sarcomere actuator were optimized to achieve better movement performance. Experimental results show that artificial half sarcomere actuator possesses great motion performance such as high response speed, great acceleration, small weight and size, robustness, etc., which presents a promising application prospect of artificial half sarcomere actuator.

Improved circuit model of open-ended coaxial probe for measurement of the biological tissue dielectric properties between megahertz and gigahertz.

This note describes an improved equivalent circuit analysis model for open-ended coaxial probes for measurement of the dielectric properties of biological tissues below the gigahertz level. Some parameters in the conventional model that influence the measurement results were found to be still relative to the dielectric properties of the test sample and the terminal admittance of the probe was found to be dependent on the frequency. This was not found to be the case with the conventional model. According to the simulation results in frequency range from 30 MHz to 1 GHz, a polynomial expression was found to fit the frequency-admittance curve for terminal admittance and the equivalent circuit expression of probe terminal admittance was finally modified. The simulated annealing algorithm was used to calculate the dielectric properties of the new expression. The accuracy of the improved model was validated through a simulation test and experiment based on a series of solutions over 30 MHz-1 GHz. The new model was compared to the conventional model and was found to provide more accurate permittivity estimation over a wider frequency range than the conventional model if said range was between megahertz and gigahertz.

Reliability of in vivo measurements of the dielectric properties of anisotropic tissue: a simulative study.

A simulative study was performed to measure the dielectric properties of anisotropic tissue using several in vivo and in vitro probes. COMSOL Multiphysics was selected to carry out the simulation. Five traditional probes and a newly designed probe were used in this study. One of these probes was an in vitro measurement probe and the other five were in vivo. The simulations were performed in terms of the minimal tissue volume for in vivo measurements, the calibration of a probe constant, the measurement performed on isotropic tissue and the measurement performed on anisotropic tissue. Results showed that the in vitro probe can be used to measure the in-cell dielectric properties of isotropic and anisotropic tissues. When measured with the five in vivo probes, the dielectric properties of isotropic tissue were all measured accurately. For the measurements performed on anisotropic tissue, large errors were observed when the four traditional in vivo probes were used, but only a small error was observed when the new in vivo probe was used. This newly designed five-electrode in vivo probe may indicate the dielectric properties of anisotropic tissue more accurately than these four traditional in vivo probes.

[Gentiana veitchiorum particles inhibited LPS induced pulmonary alveolar macrophages (AM) TNF-α production and the underlying mechanism].

AIM: To investigate the effect of Gentiana veitchiorum particles on the expression of TNF-α in pulmonary alveolar macrophages (AM) which induced by LPS, to explain the mechanism about anti-inflammatory action of Gentiana veitchiorum particles. METHODS: Purification of rat AM, TNF-α level in AM culture supernatant was detected by ELISA. Western blot method for detecting the expression of TNF-α and pERK in the AM. While application of ERK antagonist (PD98059) in rat AM and the expression of TNF-α was observed by Western blot. RESULTS: Gentiana veitchiorum particles can reduce the LPS induced AM TNF-α increase in dose dependent manner. Gentiana veitchiorum particles (100 mg/L) can significantly reduce the LPS induced pERK and TNF-α protein expression in AM. compared with LPS stimulation group, we found that ERK inhibitor (PD98059 30 mol/L), Gentiana veitchiorum particles intervention and Gentiana veitchiorum particles+PD98059 groups' TNF-α expression were significantly reduced in rat AM. CONCLUSION: Gentiana veitchiorum particles can inhibit the LPS induced pulmonary AM TNF-α expression, one of the possible mechanism is to inhibit the extracellular signal transduction pathway.

An optimized strategy for real-time hemorrhage monitoring with electrical impedance tomography.

Delayed detection of an internal hemorrhage may result in serious disabilities and possibly death for a patient. Currently, there are no portable medical imaging instruments that are suitable for long-term monitoring of patients at risk of internal hemorrhage. Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) has the potential to monitor patients continuously as a novel functional image modality and instantly detect the occurrence of an internal hemorrhage. However, the low spatial resolution and high sensitivity to noise of this technique have limited its application in clinics. In addition, due to the circular boundary display mode used in current EIT images, it is difficult for clinicians to identify precisely which organ is bleeding using this technique. The aim of this study was to propose an optimized strategy for EIT reconstruction to promote the use of EIT for clinical studies, which mainly includes the use of anatomically accurate boundary shapes, rapid selection of optimal regularization parameters and image fusion of EIT and computed tomography images. The method was evaluated on retroperitoneal and intraperitoneal bleeding piglet data. Both traditional backprojection images and optimized images among different boundary shapes were reconstructed and compared. The experimental results demonstrated that EIT images with precise anatomical information can be reconstructed in which the image resolution and resistance to noise can be improved effectively.

A bio-impedance probe to assess liver steatosis during transplant surgery.

This work addresses the design of a bioimpedance probe to assess steatosis on the exposed liver in the donor during liver transplant surgery. Whereas typically bioimpedance uses needle probes to avoid surface effects, for clinical reasons a non-penetrative probe is required. In addition the need to ensure that the measurement is representative of the bulk tissue suggests a larger probe than is normally used to ensure a sufficiently large measurement volume. Using a simple model, simulations and tests on bovine liver, this paper investigates the relationship between probe dimensions and depth of measurement penetration and investigates the accuracy which might be expected in a configuration suitable for use in the operating theatre on intact but exposed livers. A probe using ECG electrodes is proposed and investigated.

Comparison of three kinds of electrode-skin interfaces for electrical impedance scanning.

Low, uniform, and stable electrode-skin impedance is required to achieve good performance of the electrode-skin interface for electrical impedance scanning (EIS) examination. This can be used to measure the real impedance distribution of breast tissue beneath the skin. In this study, the gel interface, the cotton fine grid thin layer (CFGTL) interface, and the hydrogel interface were compared. Experiments were conducted to assess the influence of each interface on the multi-frequency EIS data and their capacity to retain moisture. Results showed that the CFGTL and hydrogel interfaces decreased contact impedance and made the impedance between the electrodes and the breast skin more even and stable. The Cole-Cole model was also used to fit the multi-frequency EIS data. The results demonstrated that the CFGTL and hydrogel interfaces were advantageous for measuring the impedance of the breast tissue under the gel interface. In general, the CFGTL and hydrogel interfaces had good contact with the skin, and both interfaces were proper choices for EIS examination at present. The hydrogel interface was a better choice for our new EIS system.

Modeling the frequency dependence of the electrical properties of the live human skull.

An accurate impedance model of a skull plays an important role in the simulation research on source localization of EEG and brain EIT (electrical impedance tomography), etc. On the basis of the large number of impedance and resistivity data obtained from our previous measurement on the live human skull, in this study we established the equivalent circuit models of six types of skull samples in the 30 Hz-3 MHz frequency range and analyzed the fitting performance of the models. The six types of skull samples are standard tri-layer, quasi-tri-layer, standard compact, quasi-compact, dentate suture and squamous suture. The results showed that the difference of the real part between the CPE (constant phase model) model and the measured data was less than 1% for all skull tissue types when the optimized characteristic parameters (rho(0), rho(infinity), alpha and f(c)) were adopted in the model. It is the first time studying the impedance model of different types of skulls, and it may provide accurate modeling of the skull to improve the accuracy of the related research on bioelectricity of the head and the biological effects of the electromagnetic field.

Application of electrical impedance tomography for continuous monitoring of retroperitoneal bleeding after blunt trauma.

Retroperitoneal bleeding is commonly associated with blunt trauma to the abdomen. Current medical tools cannot be used for continuous monitoring of the bleeding. In the study, electrical impedance tomography (EIT) was applied to monitoring the retroperitoneal bleeding of an animal model. Six healthy swine were used. The process of retroperitoneal bleeding was simulated by the continuous injection of anticoagulated blood. For each subject, total blood of 200 mL or more was injected within different time periods ranging from tens of minutes to two hours. The bleeding was detected and monitored continuously by EIT system with 16 electrodes at a rate of one image per second. EIT images were reconstructed by dynamic back-projection algorithm. Mean resistivity value (MRV) of the bleeding region in EIT images was calculated and plotted over time. We found that impedance changes caused by the bleeding could be revealed by EIT images and MRV curves. MRV curve varied approximately linearly with the quantity of blood injected using regression analysis (R (2) = 0.90 to 0.99, p < 0.05). In total, 20 mL of blood volume changes could be identified by EIT. The progression of the retroperitoneal bleeding can be monitored by EIT in the proposed animal model. It suggests EIT is potential as a useful tool for continuous monitoring of retroperitoneal bleeding after blunt trauma.

Novel electrode-skin interface for breast electrical impedance scanning.

The high false-positive rate in clinical examinations limits the application of electrical impedance scanning (EIS) on breast cancer detection. One of the reasons is the non-uniform electrode-skin interface, which induces the 'contact artifact' in the results. To decrease the 'contact artifact', we designed a novel disposable electrode-skin interface [cotton fine grid thin layer (CFGTL)-interface], which is 0.2-mm thick and has a conductivity similar to that of normal breast tissue. The performance of the CFGTL-interface was evaluated by comparing it with the ultrasound gel interface generally used in EIS examinations. The test was conducted on 50 healthy female volunteers using two different interfaces separately, and a paired comparison method was used to analyze the effect of the CFGTL-interface on EIS measuring data. The results showed that the CFGTL-interface could effectively decrease the variation and the range of data fluctuation, which suggested that CFGTL-interface can decrease the 'contact artifact' and increase the accuracy of the examination. The CFGTL-interface appears to be an effective electrode-skin interface for breast EIS examination.

[A preliminary study of piglet intraperitoneal bleeding model and electrical impedance tomography monitoring].

Piglets having each a body weight of 20-30 kg and an abdominal perimeter like human's were used in the experiment. Being guided by ultrasound, we stabbed the piglet's abdomen, placed a catheter on the liver's lower margin, then injected the anticoagulated blood through the catheter by electrical infusion pump with constant speed respectively, and monitored the whole process by EIT. We observed the image change, using Ultrasound and CT to examine the area of blood injection after the end of monitoring,and we dissected to check the result of observations. The results reveal: (1) Ultrasound, CT and dissection are all able to find out a large amount of blood in piglet's abdominal cavity; (2) The pixel value of EIT target area decreases with the increase of blood, and the change in impedance image can be obviously observed. Therefore, this animal model is suitable for simulating intraperitoneal bleeding, and the speed of bleeding therein can be controlled. We can get a limpid image when EIT is used for monitoring the intraperitoneal bleeding simulated by this animal model.

Correlation between structure and resistivity variations of the live human skull.

A study on correlation between structure and resistivity variations was performed for live adult human skull. The resistivities of 388 skull samples, excised from 48 skull flaps of patients undergoing surgery, were measured at body temperature (36.5 degrees C) using the well-known four-electrode method in the frequency range of 1-4 MHz. According to different structures of the skull samples, all the 388 samples were classified into six categories and measured their resistivities: standard trilayer skull (7943 +/- 1752 ohm x cm, 58 samples), quasi-trilayer skull (14,471 +/- 3061 ohm x cm, 110 samples), standard compact skull (26,546 +/- 5374 ohm x cm, 62 samples), quasi-compact skull (19,824 +/- 3232 ohm x cm, 53 samples), dentate suture skull (5782 +/- 1778 ohm x cm, 41 samples), and squamous suture skull (12747 +/- 4120 ohm x cm, 64 samples). The results showed that the skull resistivities were not homogenous and were significantly influenced by local structural variations. The presence of sutures appeared to decrease the overall resistivity of particular regions largely and dentate suture decreased the resistivity more than squamous suture. The absence of diploe appeared to increase skull resistivity. The percentage on thickness of diploe would be the primary factor in determining the resistivity of the skull sample without suture. From resistivity spectra results, an inverse relationship between skull resistivity and signal frequency was found.