Abstract
Monitoring regional pulmonary ventilation and pulsatile perfusion changes in a 3D region of interest (ROI) of the lung is a promising application for electrical impedance tomography (EIT). This paper describes a 3D analytical reconstruction algorithm that was embedded in a prototype EIT system to enable a real-time image reconstruction at nearly 20 frames per second for monitoring impedance changes in the chest in real-time. The derivation and results of the 3D analytical forward solution and inverse solution and details of the real-time reconstruction algorithm are given. The algorithm and EIT system are validated with simulated data, in-vitro phantoms, and finally shown to be capable of imaging ventilation and pulsatile perfusion in human subjects. The human subject data was obtained using a high-precision, high-speed and simultaneous multiple current source (SMS-EIT) developed by GE Research. Data was collected using four rows of 8 electrodes for a healthy adult male subject and 2 rows of 16 electrodes for six healthy human female subjects, with one row placed above the breasts and a second row placed at the infra-mammary fold. Each of the female subjects performed a breathing maneuver with a volumetric incentive spirometer, and the volume of air inhaled was calculated from the EIT images. Pulsatile perfusion images were computed from this data, and regional lung filling was also analyzed.
Competing Interest Statement
The authors have declared no competing interest.
Footnotes
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