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Updated: Nov 20, 2025

Monitoring Lung Function with Electrical Impedance Tomography in the Intensive Care Unit
Published on: September 6, 2024
The use of electrical impedance tomography for individualized ventilation strategy in COVID-19: a case report
Zhanqi Zhao1,2, Jin-Shou Zhang3, Ying-Tzu Chen3
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an, China.
Background:
Clinical management of COVID-19 requires close monitoring of lung function. While computed tomography (CT) offers ideal way to identify the phenotypes, it cannot monitor the patient response to therapeutic interventions. We present a case of ventilation management for a COVID-19 patient where electrical impedance tomography (EIT) was used to personalize care.
Case Presentation:
The patient developed acute respiratory distress syndrome, required invasive mechanical ventilation, and was subsequently weaned. EIT was used multiple times: to titrate the positive end-expiratory pressure, understand the influence of body position, and guide the support levels during weaning and after extubation. We show how EIT provides bedside monitoring of the patient´s response to various therapeutic interventions and helps guide treatments.
Conclusion:
EIT provides unique information that may help the ventilation management in the pandemic of COVID-19.
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