A tissue equivalent phantom for simultaneous near-infrared optical tomography and EEG

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Neuroimaging
• Medical Physics

Background:

• Simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) and near-infrared optical tomography (NIROPT) offer complementary insights into brain function.
• Developing phantoms that accurately replicate biological tissue properties is essential for validating combined neuroimaging techniques.
• Previous phantoms have not adequately addressed the dual electrical and optical properties required for simultaneous EEG and NIROPT.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel phantom designed for simultaneous EEG and NIROPT.
• To validate the phantom's ability to mimic human scalp electrical impedance and brain tissue optical and electrical properties.
• To demonstrate the utility of the phantom in a simultaneous EEG and NIROPT experiment at an infant brain scale.

Main Methods:

• Construction of a specialized phantom with surface electrical contact impedance similar to human scalp.
• Incorporation of optical scattering and electrical conductivity properties equivalent to brain tissue.
• Performance of a simultaneous EEG and NIROPT experiment using the developed phantom.

Main Results:

• The phantom successfully replicates key electrical and optical properties of biological tissues.
• The first simultaneous EEG and NIROPT experiment on an infant brain-scale phantom was successfully conducted.
• The experimental results confirm the phantom's suitability for assessing combined neuroimaging systems.

Conclusions:

• The developed phantom is a valuable tool for the advancement of simultaneous EEG and NIROPT.
• This phantom enables realistic testing and calibration of multimodal neuroimaging systems.
• The successful demonstration paves the way for improved assessment of brain activity using combined techniques.