Real-time three-dimensional electrical impedance imaging

Electrical impedance tomography is a technology for producing images of internal body structures based upon electrical measurements made from electrodes on the body surface. Typically a single plane of electrodes is used, seeking to reconstruct a cross section of the body. Yet the majority of image reconstruction algorithms ignore the three-dimensional (3D) characteristics of the current flow in the body. Actually, a substantial amount of current flows out of the electrode plane, creating distortions in the resulting images. This paper describes a reconstruction algorithm, ToDLeR, for solving a linearized 3D inverse problem in impedance imaging. The algorithm models the body as a homogeneous cylinder and accounts for the 3D current flow in the body by analytically solving for the current flow from one or more layers of electrodes on the surface of the cylinder. The algorithm was implemented on the ACT3 real-time imaging system and data were collected from a 3D test phantom using one, two and four layers of electrodes. By using multiple planes of electrodes, improved accuracy in any particular electrode plane was obtained, with decreased sensitivity to out-of-plane objects. A cylindrical target located vertically more than 8 cm below a single layer of 16 electrodes, and positioned radially midway between the centre and the boundary, produced an image that had 35% of the value obtained when the target was in the electrode plane. By adding an additional layer of 16 electrodes below the first electrode plane, and using 3D current patterns, this artefact was reduced to less than 10% of the peak value. We conclude that the 3D algorithm, used with multiple planes of electrodes, reduces the distortions from out-of-plane structures in the body.