Variability of impedivity in normal and pathological breast tissue

The impedivity of six groups of breast tissue is measured between 0.488 kHz and 1 MHz using a hand-held probe, ensuring a constant geometry factor, and a microcomputer-controlled impedance spectroscopy system. 120 spectra are collected in excised tissue samples from 64 patients undergoing breast surgery. Each spectrum consists of 12 frequency points. The mean m, the standard deviation s, and the 'reduced standard error' (epsilon = s/(m N)) of the magnitude and the phase angle of the impedivity are calculated at each frequency for all groups of tissues. The variability at low frequency (f < 10 kHz) is attributed to the dispersion in measurement errors. This contributed to the choice of 32 KHz as the lower limit of measurement frequency in constructed electrical impedance tomograph. The collected data also show that frequencies larger than 1 MHz are needed for the bio-electrical characterisation of breast tissue. In the frequency range used in electrical impedance tomography the reduced standard error of impedivity in breast tissue is about 0.1 or less. The lowest dispersions are observed in the adipose tissue, carcinoma and fibro-adenoma.