Detection of intraventricular blood using EIT in a neonatal piglet model

We have developed a sensitive EIT protocol for detection of intraventricular bleeding. A common model of human neonates is the neonatal piglet. We used our method to test the sensitivity of our method and device to small amounts of blood-like fluid injected near the left and right ventricles of a piglet cadaver. Comparing blood-like fluid detection in open an closed piglet skulls, we found that we could detect amounts of blood less than 0.5 ml, which is smaller than that required for our target of detecting grade II intraventricular hemorrhages in human neonates.