Abstract
Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) is a promising application that displays changes in conductivity within a body. The basic principle of the method is the repeated measurement of surface voltages of a body, which are a result of rolling injection of known and small-volume sinusoidal AC current to the body through the electrodes attached to its surface. This method finds application in biomedicine, biology and geology. The objective of this paper is to present the applications of Electrical Impedance Tomography, along with the method’s capabilities and limitations due to the electrical properties of the human body. For this purpose, investigation of existing literature has been conducted, using electronic databases, PubMed, Google Scholar and IEEE Xplore. In addition, there was a secondary research phase, using paper citations found during the first research phase. It should be noted that Electrical Impedance Tomography finds use in a plethora of medical applications, as the different tissues of the body have different conductivities and dielectric constants. Main applications of EIT include imaging of lung function, diagnosis of pulmonary embolism, detection of tumors in the chest area and diagnosis and distinction of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke. EIT advantages include portability, low cost and safety, which the method provide, since it is a noninvasive imaging method that does not cause damage to the body. The main disadvantage of the method, which blocks its wider spread, appears in the image composition from the voltage measurements, which are conducted by electrodes placed on the periphery of the body, because the injected currents are affected nonlinearly by the general distribution of the electrical properties of the body. Furthermore, the complex impedance of the skin-electrode interface can be modelled by using a capacitor and two resistor, as a result of skin properties. In conclusion, Electrical Impedance Tomography is a promising method for the development of noninvasive diagnostic medicine, since it is able to provide imaging of the interior of the human body in real time without causing harm or putting the human body in risk.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Adler, A., J.H. Arnold, R. Bayford, et al. 2009. GREIT: A Unified Approach to 2D Linear EIT Reconstruction of Lung Images. Physiological Measurement 30: S35–S55.
Barber, D.C., B.H. Brown, and I.L. Freeston. 1983. Imaging Spatial Distributions of Resistivity Using Applied Potential Tomography. Electronics Letters 19: 93–95.
Frerichs, I. 2000. Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) in Applications Related to Lung and Ventilation: A Review of Experimental and Clinical Activities. Physiological Measurement 21: R1–21.
Wang, Q., H. Wang, Z. Cui, et al. 2012. Reconstruction of Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) Images Based on the Expectation Maximum (EM) Method. ISA Transactions 51: 808–820.
Constantin, J.M., S. Perbet, J. Delmas, et al. 2014. Electrical Impedance Tomography: So Close to Touching the Holy Grail. Critical Care 18: 164.
Cheney, M., D. Isaacson, and J.C. Newell. 1999. Electrical Impedance Tomography. SIAM Review 41: 85–101.
Trepte, J.C., R.C. Phillips, J. Solà, et al. 2016. Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) for Quantification of Pulmonary Edema in Acute Lung Injury. Critical Care 20: 18.
Gómez-Laberge, C., J.H. Arnold, and G.K. Wolf. 2012. A Unified Approach for EIT Imaging of Regional Overdistension and Atelectasis in Acute Lung Injury. IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging 31: 834–842.
Jehl, M., A. Dedner, T. Betcke, et al. 2015. A Fast Parallel Solver for the Forward Problem in Electrical Impedance Tomography. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering 62: 126–137.
Malone, E., M. Jehl, and S. Arridge. 2014. Stroke Type Differentiation Using Spectrally Constrained Multifrequency EIT: Evaluation of Feasibility in a Realistic Head Model. Physiological Measurement 35: 1051–1066.
Bayford, R.H. 2006. Bioimpedancel Tomography (Electrical Impedance Tomography). Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering 8: 63–91.
Fish, R.M., and L.A. Geddes. 2008. Electrophysiology of Connection Current Spikes. Cardiovascular Engineering 8: 219–224.
———. 2009. Conduction of Electrical Current to and Through the Human Body: A Review. Eplasty 9: e44.
Gabriel, S., R.W. Lau, and C. Gabriel. 1966. The Dielectric Properties of Biological Tissues: II. Measurement in the Frequency Range 10 Hz to GHz. Physics in Medicine and Biology 41: 2251–2269.
Faes, T.J., H.A. van der Meij, J.C. de Munck, et al. 1999. The Electric Resistivity of Human Tissues (100 Hz-10 MHz): A Meta-Analysis of Review Studies. Physiological Measurement 20: R1–10.
Gabriel, C., S. Gabriel, and E. Corthout. 1996. The Dielectric Properties of Biological Tissues: I. Literature Survey. Physics in Medicine and Biology 41: 2231–2249.
Geddes, L.A., and L.E. Baker. 1967. The Specific Resistance of Biological Engineer and Physiologist. Medical & Biological Engineering 5: 271–293.
Kumar, S., A. Dutt, and S. Hemraj. 2012. Phase Angle Measurement in Healthy Human Subjects Through Bio-Impedance Analysis. Iranian Journal of Basic Medical Sciences 15: 1180–1184.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Lymperopoulos, G., Lymperopoulos, P., Alikari, V., Dafogianni, C., Zyga, S., Margari, N. (2017). Applications for Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) and Electrical Properties of the Human Body. In: Vlamos, P. (eds) GeNeDis 2016 . Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 989. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57348-9_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57348-9_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-57347-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-57348-9
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)