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Mason K, Maurino-Alperovich F, Holder D, Aristovich K. Noise-based correction for electrical impedance tomography. Physiol Meas 2024; 45:065002. [PMID: 38772395 DOI: 10.1088/1361-6579/ad4e93] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/11/2023] [Accepted: 05/21/2024] [Indexed: 05/23/2024]
Abstract
Objective.Noisy measurements frequently cause noisy and inaccurate images in impedance imaging. No post-processing technique exists to calculate the propagation of measurement noise and use this to suppress noise in the image. The objectives of this work were (1) to develop a post-processing method for noise-based correction (NBC) in impedance tomography, (2) to test whether NBC improves image quality in electrical impedance tomography (EIT), (3) to determine whether it is preferable to use correlated or uncorrelated noise for NBC, (4) to test whether NBC works within vivodata and (5) to test whether NBC is stable across model and perturbation geometries.Approach.EIT was performedin silicoin a 2D homogeneous circular domain and an anatomically realistic, heterogeneous 3D human head domain for four perturbations and 25 noise levels in each case. This was validated by performing EIT for four perturbations in a circular, saline tank in 2D as well as a human head-shaped saline tank with a realistic skull-like layer in 3D. Images were assessed on the error in the weighted spatial variance (WSV) with respect to the true, target image. The effect of NBC was also tested forin vivoEIT data of lung ventilation in a human thorax and cortical activity in a rat brain.Main results.On visual inspection, NBC maintained or increased image quality for all perturbations and noise levels in 2D and 3D, both experimentally andin silico. Analysis of the WSV showed that NBC significantly improved the WSV in nearly all cases. When the WSV was inferior with NBC, this was either visually imperceptible or a transformation between noisy reconstructions. Forin vivodata, NBC improved image quality in all cases and preserved the expected shape of the reconstructed perturbation.Significance.In practice, uncorrelated NBC performed better than correlated NBC and is recommended as a general-use post-processing technique in EIT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kai Mason
- Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | | | - David Holder
- Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Kirill Aristovich
- Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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Piastra MC, Oostenveld R, Homölle S, Han B, Chen Q, Oostendorp T. How to assess the accuracy of volume conduction models? A validation study with stereotactic EEG data. Front Hum Neurosci 2024; 18:1279183. [PMID: 38410258 PMCID: PMC10894995 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1279183] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2023] [Accepted: 01/25/2024] [Indexed: 02/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Volume conduction models of the human head are used in various neuroscience fields, such as for source reconstruction in EEG and MEG, and for modeling the effects of brain stimulation. Numerous studies have quantified the accuracy and sensitivity of volume conduction models by analyzing the effects of the geometrical and electrical features of the head model, the sensor model, the source model, and the numerical method. Most studies are based on simulations as it is hard to obtain sufficiently detailed measurements to compare to models. The recording of stereotactic EEG during electric stimulation mapping provides an opportunity for such empirical validation. Methods In the study presented here, we used the potential distribution of volume-conducted artifacts that are due to cortical stimulation to evaluate the accuracy of finite element method (FEM) volume conduction models. We adopted a widely used strategy for numerical comparison, i.e., we fixed the geometrical description of the head model and the mathematical method to perform simulations, and we gradually altered the head models, by increasing the level of detail of the conductivity profile. We compared the simulated potentials at different levels of refinement with the measured potentials in three epilepsy patients. Results Our results show that increasing the level of detail of the volume conduction head model only marginally improves the accuracy of the simulated potentials when compared to in-vivo sEEG measurements. The mismatch between measured and simulated potentials is, throughout all patients and models, maximally 40 microvolts (i.e., 10% relative error) in 80% of the stimulation-recording combination pairs and it is modulated by the distance between recording and stimulating electrodes. Discussion Our study suggests that commonly used strategies used to validate volume conduction models based solely on simulations might give an overly optimistic idea about volume conduction model accuracy. We recommend more empirical validations to be performed to identify those factors in volume conduction models that have the highest impact on the accuracy of simulated potentials. We share the dataset to allow researchers to further investigate the mismatch between measurements and FEM models and to contribute to improving volume conduction models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Carla Piastra
- Clinical Neurophysiology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Technical Medical Centre, University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Robert Oostenveld
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
- NatMEG, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Simon Homölle
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Biao Han
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Qi Chen
- School of Psychology, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Thom Oostendorp
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands
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Paldanius A, Dekdouk B, Toivanen J, Kolehmainen V, Hyttinen J. Sensitivity Analysis Highlights the Importance of Accurate Head Models for Electrical Impedance Tomography Monitoring of Intracerebral Hemorrhagic Stroke. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 2021; 69:1491-1501. [PMID: 34665718 DOI: 10.1109/tbme.2021.3120929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) has been proposed as a novel tool for diagnosing stroke. However, so far, the clinical feasibility is unresolved. In this study, we aim to investigate the need for accurate head modeling in EIT and how the inhomogeneities of the head contribute to the EIT measurement and affect its feasibility in monitoring the progression of a hemorrhagic stroke. METHODS We compared anatomically detailed six- and three-layer finite element models of a human head and computed the resulting scalp electrode potentials and the lead fields of selected electrode configurations. We visualized the resulting EIT measurement sensitivity distributions, computed the scalp electrode potentials, and examined the inverse imaging with selected cases. The effect of accurate tissue geometry and conductivity values on the EIT measurement is assessed with multiple different hemorrhagic perturbation locations and sizes. RESULTS Our results show that accurate tissue geometries and conductivity values inside the cranial cavity, especially the highly conductive cerebral spinal fluid, significantly affect EIT measurement sensitivity distribution and measured potentials. CONCLUSIONS We can conclude that the three-layer head models commonly used in EIT literature cannot depict the current paths correctly in the head. Thus, our study highlights the need to consider the detailed geometry of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in EIT. SIGNIFICANCE The results clearly show that the CSF should be considered in the head EIT calculations.
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Self-Abrading Servo Electrode Helmet for Electrical Impedance Tomography. SENSORS 2020; 20:s20247058. [PMID: 33317181 PMCID: PMC7763319 DOI: 10.3390/s20247058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2020] [Revised: 12/02/2020] [Accepted: 12/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) is a medical imaging technique which has the potential to reduce time to treatment in acute stroke by rapidly differentiating between ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke. The potential of these methods has been demonstrated in simulation and phantoms, it has not yet successfully translated to clinical studies, due to high sensitivity to errors in scalp electrode mislocation and poor electrode-skin contact. To overcome these limitations, a novel electrode helmet was designed, bearing 32 independently controlled self-abrading electrodes. The contact impedance was reduced through rotation on an abrasive electrode on the scalp using a combined impedance, rotation and position feedback loop. Potentiometers within each unit measure the electrode tip displacement within 0.1 mm from the rigid helmet body. Characterisation experiments on a large-scale test rig demonstrated that approximately 20 kPa applied pressure and 5 rotations was necessary to achieve the target 5 kΩ contact impedance at 20 Hz. This performance was then replicated in a simplified self-contained unit where spring loaded electrodes are rotated by servo motors. Finally, a 32-channel helmet and controller which sequentially minimised contact impedance and simultaneously located each electrode was built which reduced the electrode application and localisation time to less than five minutes. The results demonstrated the potential of this approach to rapidly apply electrodes in an acute setting, removing a significant barrier for imaging acute stroke with EIT.
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McDermott B, Elahi A, Santorelli A, O'Halloran M, Avery J, Porter E. Multi-frequency symmetry difference electrical impedance tomography with machine learning for human stroke diagnosis. Physiol Meas 2020; 41:075010. [PMID: 32554876 DOI: 10.1088/1361-6579/ab9e54] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Multi-frequency symmetry difference electrical impedance tomography (MFSD-EIT) can robustly detect and identify unilateral perturbations in symmetric scenes. Here, an investigation is performed to assess if the algorithm can be successfully applied to identify the aetiology of stroke with the aid of machine learning. METHODS Anatomically realistic four-layer finite element method models of the head based on stroke patient images are developed and used to generate EIT data over a 5 Hz-100 Hz frequency range with and without bleed and clot lesions present. Reconstruction generates conductivity maps of each head at each frequency. Application of a quantitative metric assessing changes in symmetry across the sagittal plane of the reconstructed image and over the frequency range allows lesion detection and identification. The algorithm is applied to both simulated and human (n = 34 subjects) data. A classification algorithm is applied to the metric value in order to differentiate between normal, haemorrhage and clot values. MAIN RESULTS An average accuracy of 85% is achieved when MFSD-EIT with support vector machines (SVM) classification is used to identify and differentiate bleed from clot in human data, with 77% accuracy when differentiating normal from stroke in human data. CONCLUSION Applying a classification algorithm to metrics derived from MFSD-EIT images is a novel and promising technique for detection and identification of perturbations in static scenes. SIGNIFICANCE The MFSD-EIT algorithm used with machine learning gives promising results of lesion detection and identification in challenging conditions like stroke. The results imply feasible translation to human patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barry McDermott
- Translational Medical Device Lab, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland
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Gaubert V, Gidik H, Koncar V. Proposal of a Lab Bench for the Unobtrusive Monitoring of the Bladder Fullness with Bioimpedance Measurements. SENSORS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2020; 20:E3980. [PMID: 32709078 PMCID: PMC7412207 DOI: 10.3390/s20143980] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2020] [Revised: 07/08/2020] [Accepted: 07/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
(1) Background: millions of people, from children to the elderly, suffer from bladder dysfunctions all over the world. Monitoring bladder fullness with appropriate miniaturized textile devices can improve, significantly, their daily life quality, or even cure them. Amongst the existing bladder sensing technologies, bioimpedance spectroscopy seems to be the most appropriate one to be integrated into textiles. (2) Methods: to assess the feasibility of monitoring the bladder fullness with textile-based bioimpedance spectroscopy; an innovative lab-bench has been designed and fabricated. As a step towards obtaining a more realistic pelvic phantom, ex vivo pig's bladder and skin were used. The electrical properties of the fabricated pelvic phantom have been compared to those of two individuals with tetrapolar impedance measurements. The measurements' reproducibility on the lab bench has been evaluated and discussed. Moreover, its suitability for the continuous monitoring of the bladder filling has been investigated. (3) Results: although the pelvic phantom failed in reproducing the frequency-dependent electrical properties of human tissues, it was found to be suitable at 5 kHz to record bladder volume change. The resistance variations recorded are proportional to the conductivity of the liquid filling the bladder. A 350 mL filling with artificial urine corresponds to a decrease in resistance of 7.2%, which was found to be in the same range as in humans. (4) Conclusions: based on that resistance variation; the instantaneous bladder fullness can be extrapolated. The presented lab-bench will be used to evaluate the ability of textiles electrodes to unobtrusively monitor the bladder volume.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentin Gaubert
- GEnie et Matériaux TEXtiles (GEMTEX) Laboratory, École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Industries Textiles (ENSAIT), F-59100 Roubaix, France; (H.G.); (V.K.)
- Hautes Etudes Ingénieur (HEI)—YNCREA, University of Lille, F-59650 Villeneuve d’Ascq, France
| | - Hayriye Gidik
- GEnie et Matériaux TEXtiles (GEMTEX) Laboratory, École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Industries Textiles (ENSAIT), F-59100 Roubaix, France; (H.G.); (V.K.)
- Hautes Etudes Ingénieur (HEI)—YNCREA, University of Lille, F-59650 Villeneuve d’Ascq, France
| | - Vladan Koncar
- GEnie et Matériaux TEXtiles (GEMTEX) Laboratory, École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Industries Textiles (ENSAIT), F-59100 Roubaix, France; (H.G.); (V.K.)
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de Gelidi S, Seifnaraghi N, Bardill A, Wu Y, Frerichs I, Demosthenous A, Tizzard A, Bayford R. Towards a thoracic conductive phantom for EIT. Med Eng Phys 2020; 77:88-94. [PMID: 31948771 DOI: 10.1016/j.medengphy.2019.10.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2019] [Revised: 10/14/2019] [Accepted: 10/20/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Phantom experiments are a crucial step for testing new hardware or imaging algorithms for electrical impedance tomography (EIT) studies. However, constructing an accurate phantom for EIT research remains critical; some studies have attempted to model the skull and breasts, and even fewer, as yet, have considered the thorax. In this study, a critical comparison between the electrical properties (impedance) of three materials is undertaken: a polyurethane foam, a silicone mixture and a thermoplastic polyurethane filament. The latter was identified as the most promising material and adopted for the development of a flexible neonatal torso. The validation is performed by the EIT image reconstruction of the air filled cavities, which mimic the lung regions. The methodology is reproducible for the creation of any phantom that requires a slight flexibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Serena de Gelidi
- Faculty of Science and Technology, Middlesex University, London, United Kingdom.
| | - Nima Seifnaraghi
- Faculty of Science and Technology, Middlesex University, London, United Kingdom
| | - Andy Bardill
- Faculty of Science and Technology, Middlesex University, London, United Kingdom
| | - Yu Wu
- University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Inéz Frerichs
- University Medical Centre Schlewig-Holstein, Kiel, Germany
| | | | - Andrew Tizzard
- Faculty of Science and Technology, Middlesex University, London, United Kingdom
| | - Richard Bayford
- Faculty of Science and Technology, Middlesex University, London, United Kingdom
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Jiang YD, Soleimani M. Capacitively Coupled Electrical Impedance Tomography for Brain Imaging. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MEDICAL IMAGING 2019; 38:2104-2113. [PMID: 30703015 DOI: 10.1109/tmi.2019.2895035] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is considered as a potential candidate for brain stroke imaging due to its compactness and potential use in bedside and emergency settings. The electrode-skin contact impedance and low conductivity of skull pose some practical challenges to the EIT head imaging. This paper studies the application of capacitively coupled electrical impedance tomography (CCEIT) in brain imaging for the first time. CCEIT is a new contactless EIT technique which uses voltage excitation without direct contact with the skin, as oppose to directly injecting the current to the skin in EIT. Because the safety issue of a new technique should be strictly treated, simulation work based on a simplified head model was carried out to investigate the safety aspects of CCEIT. By comparing with the standard EIT excited by a typical safe current level used in brain imaging, the safe excitation reference of CCEIT is obtained. This is done by comparing the maximum level of internal electrical field (internal current density) of EIT and that of CCEIT. Simulation results provide useful knowledge of excitation signal level of CCEIT and also show a critical comparison with traditional EIT. Practical experiments were carried out with a 12-electrode CCEIT phantom, saline, and carrot samples. Experimental results show the feasibility and potential of CCEIT for stroke imaging. In this paper, the anomaly diameter resolution is 10 mm (1/18 of the phantom diameter), which indicates that small-volume stroke could be detected. This is achieved by a low excitation voltage of 1 V, showing the possibility of even better performance when higher but yet safe level of excitation voltages is used.
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McDermott B, Avery J, O'Halloran M, Aristovich K, Porter E. Bi-frequency symmetry difference electrical impedance tomography-a novel technique for perturbation detection in static scenes. Physiol Meas 2019; 40:044005. [PMID: 30786267 DOI: 10.1088/1361-6579/ab08ba] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE A novel method for the imaging of static scenes using electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is reported with implementation and validation using numerical and phantom models. The technique is applicable to regions featuring symmetry in the normal case, asymmetry in the presence of a perturbation, and where there is a known, frequency-dependent change in the electrical conductivity of the materials in the region. APPROACH The stroke diagnostic problem is used as a motivating sample application. The head is largely symmetrical across the sagittal plane. A haemorrhagic or ischaemic lesion located away from the sagittal plane will alter this natural symmetry, resulting in a symmetrical imbalance that can be detected using EIT. Specifically, application of EIT stimulation and measurement protocols at two distinct frequencies detects deviations in symmetry if an asymmetrically positioned lesion is present, with subsequent identification and localisation of the perturbation based on known frequency-dependent conductivity changes. Anatomically accurate computational models are used to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed technique using different types, sizes, and locations of lesions with frequency-dependent (or independent) conductivity. Further, a realistic experimental head phantom is used to validate the technique using frequency-dependent perturbations emulating the key numerical simulations. MAIN RESULTS Lesion presence, type, and location are detectable using this novel technique. Results are presented in the form of images and corresponding robust quantitative metrics. Better detection is achieved for larger lesions, those further from the sagittal plane, and when measurements have a higher signal-to-noise ratio. SIGNIFICANCE Bi-frequency symmetry difference EIT is an exciting new modality of EIT with the ability to detect deviations in the symmetry of a region that occur due to the presence of a lesion. Notably, this modality does not require a time change in the region and thus may be used in static scenarios such as stroke detection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barry McDermott
- Translational Medical Device Lab, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland
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Avery J, Dowrick T, Witkowska-Wrobel A, Faulkner M, Aristovich K, Holder D. Simultaneous EIT and EEG using frequency division multiplexing. Physiol Meas 2019; 40:034007. [DOI: 10.1088/1361-6579/ab0bbc] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE The most commonly used EIT paradigm (time division multiplexing) limits the temporal resolution of impedance images due to the need to switch between injection electrodes. Advances have previously been made using frequency division multiplexing (FDM) to increase temporal resolution, but in cases where a fixed range of frequencies is available, such as imaging fast neural activity, an upper limit is placed on the total number of simultaneous injections. The use of phase division multiplexing (PDM) where multiple out of phase signals can be injected at each frequency is investigated to increase temporal resolution. APPROACH TDM, FDM and PDM were compared in head tank experiments, to compare transfer impedance measurements and spatial resolution between the three techniques. A resistor phantom paradigm was established to investigate the imaging of one-off impedance changes, of magnitude 1% and with durations as low as 500 µs (similar to those seen in nerve bundles), using both PDM and TDM approaches. MAIN RESULTS In head tank experiments, a strong correlation (r > 0.85 and p < 0.001) was present between the three sets of measured transfer impedances, and no statistically significant difference was found in reconstructed image quality. PDM was able to image impedance changes down to 500 µs in the phantom experiments, while the minimum duration imaged using TDM was 5 ms. SIGNIFICANCE PDM offers a possible solution to the imaging of fast moving impedance changes (such as in nerves), where the use of triggering or coherent averaging is not possible. The temporal resolution presents an order of magnitude improvement of the TDM approach, and the approach addresses the limited spatial resolution of FDM by increasing the number of simultaneous EIT injections.
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Affiliation(s)
- T Dowrick
- Department of Medical Physics & Biomedical Engineering, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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