非接触磁感应脑阻抗断层成像系统设计

针对脑组织电阻抗的研究，本文设计了工作频率在10MHz的单通道硬件电路和试验台，可以分辨电导率介于0．001s/m到6s/m的四种不同浓度的NaCl盐溶液，并对模拟正常人脑组织（0．375s/m）的0．195％NaCl盐溶液目标，给出了初步成像结果。     

Measurement of ion diffusion using magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography

In magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MREIT), currents are applied to an object, the resulting magnetic flux density measured using MRI and the conductivity distribution reconstructed using these MRI data. In this study, we assess the ability of MREIT to monitor changes in the conductivity distribution of an agarose gel phantom, using injected current pulses of 900 microA. The phantom initially contained a distinct region of high sodium chloride concentration which diffused into the background over time. MREIT data were collected over a 12 h span, and conductivity images were reconstructed using the iterative sensitivity matrix method with Tikhonov regularization. The results indicate that MREIT was able to monitor the changing conductivity and concentration distributions resulting from the diffusion of ions within the agarose gel phantom.     

脑磁感应断层成像

脑磁感应断层成像技术具有功能成像和连续图像监护的优点。与其它电磁成像技术相比,可以克服颅骨的屏障影响,并可获得较高的空间分辨率。在脑成像方面具有潜在的应用前景。从实验系统、数值仿真、系统性能和关键问题等方面综述了脑磁感应断层成像技术的研究进展。     

脑磁感应断层成像

脑磁感应断层成像技术具有功能成像和连续图像监护的优点。与其它电磁成像技术相比，可以克服颅骨的屏障影响，并可获得较高的空间分辨率。在脑成像方面具有潜在的应用前景。从实验系统、数值仿真、系统性能和关键问题等方面综述了脑磁感应断层成像技术的研究进展。     

磁共振电阻抗成像方法的研究进展

磁共振电阻抗成像方法是传统电阻抗成像和磁共振成像的结合，是一种新的电阻抗成像方法。按照电阻抗测量激励器与接收器的不同，可将其划分为接触式和非接触式两种。应用磁共振电阻抗成像方法可以获得高分辨率、高精度的电阻抗图像，对临床辅助诊断具有重要意义。对磁共振电阻抗成像方法的两种形式及其发展前景给予综述。     

Basic setup for breast conductivity imaging using magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography

We present a new medical imaging technique for breast imaging, breast MREIT, in which magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MREIT) is utilized to get high-resolution conductivity and current density images of the breast. In this work, we introduce the basic imaging setup of the breast MREIT technique with an investigation of four different imaging configurations of current-injection electrode positions and pathways through computer simulation studies. Utilizing the preliminary findings of a best breast MREIT configuration, additional numerical simulation studies have been carried out to validate breast MREIT at different levels of SNR. Finally, we have performed an experimental validation with a breast phantom on a 3.0 T MREIT system. The presented results strongly suggest that breast MREIT with careful imaging setups could be a potential imaging technique for human breast which may lead to early detection of breast cancer via improved differentiation of cancerous tissues in high-resolution conductivity images.     

Fuzzy modeling of electrical impedance tomography images of the lungs

OBJECTIVES: Aiming to improve the anatomical resolution of electrical impedance tomography images, we developed a fuzzy model based on electrical impedance tomography's high temporal resolution and on the functional pulmonary signals of perfusion and ventilation. INTRODUCTION: Electrical impedance tomography images carry information about both ventilation and perfusion. However, these images are difficult to interpret because of insufficient anatomical resolution, such that it becomes almost impossible to distinguish the heart from the lungs. METHODS: Electrical impedance tomography data from an experimental animal model were collected during normal ventilation and apnea while an injection of hypertonic saline was administered. The fuzzy model was elaborated in three parts: a modeling of the heart, the pulmonary ventilation map and the pulmonary perfusion map. Image segmentation was performed using a threshold method, and a ventilation/perfusion map was generated. RESULTS: Electrical impedance tomography images treated by the fuzzy model were compared with the hypertonic saline injection method and computed tomography scan images, presenting good results. The average accuracy index was 0.80 when comparing the fuzzy modeled lung maps and the computed tomography scan lung mask. The average ROC curve area comparing a saline injection image and a fuzzy modeled pulmonary perfusion image was 0.77. DISCUSSION: The innovative aspects of our work are the use of temporal information for the delineation of the heart structure and the use of two pulmonary functions for lung structure delineation. However, robustness of the method should be tested for the imaging of abnormal lung conditions. CONCLUSIONS: These results showed the adequacy of the fuzzy approach in treating the anatomical resolution uncertainties in electrical impedance tomography images.     

Finite-element method in electrical impedance tomography

In electrical impedance tomography (EIT), current patterns are injected into a subject and boundary voltages are measured to reconstruct a cross-sectional image of resistivity distribution. Static EIT image reconstruction requires a computer model of a subject, an efficient data-collection method and robust and fast reconstruction algorithms. The finite-element method is used as the computer model. The paper describes the finite-element analysis software package developed, including an interactive graphical mesh generator and fast algorithms for solving linear systems of equations using sparse-matrix and vector techniques. Various models of irregularly shaped subjects are developed using mesh-design tools, including automatic mesh generation and optimisation using the Delaunay algorithm. Even though the software package is customised for use in electrical impedance tomography, it can be used for other biomedical research areas, such as impedance cardiography, cardiac defibrillation and impedance pneumography.     

Distinguishability for magnetic resonance-electrical impedance tomography (MR-EIT)

A distinguishability measure is defined for magnetic resonance-electrical impedance tomography (MR-EIT) based on magnetic flux density measurements. This general definition is valid for 2D and 3D structures of any shape. As a specific case, a 2D cylindrical body with concentric inhomogeneity is considered and a bound of the distinguishability is analytically formulated. Distinguishabilities obtained with potential and magnetic flux density measurements are compared.     

Equipotential projection-based magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography and experimental realization

In this study, a direct, fast image reconstruction algorithm, based on the fact that equipotential lines are perpendicular to current lines in a volume conductor, is proposed for magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MR-EIT). The proposed technique is evaluated both on simulated and measured data for conductor and insulator objects.     

Magnetoacoustic tomography with magnetic induction (MAT-MI)

We report our theoretical and experimental investigations on a new imaging modality, magnetoacoustic tomography with magnetic induction (MAT-MI). In MAT-MI, the sample is located in a static magnetic field and a time-varying (micros) magnetic field. The time-varying magnetic field induces an eddy current in the sample. Consequently, the sample will emit ultrasonic waves by the Lorentz force. The ultrasonic signals are collected around the object to reconstruct images related to the electrical impedance distribution in the sample. MAT-MI combines the good contrast of electrical impedance tomography with the good spatial resolution of sonography. MAT-MI has two unique features due to the solenoid nature of the induced electrical field. Firstly, MAT-MI could provide an explicit or simple quantitative reconstruction algorithm for the electrical impedance distribution. Secondly, it promises to eliminate the shielding effects of other imaging modalities in which the current is applied directly with electrodes. In the theoretical part, we provide formulae for both the forward and inverse problems of MAT-MI and estimate the signal amplitude in biological tissues. In the experimental part, the experimental setup and methods are introduced and the signals and the image of a metal object by means of MAT-MI are presented. The promising pilot experimental results suggest the feasibility of the proposed MAT-MI approach.     

一维感应式磁共振电阻抗成像重建方法研究

对一维感应式的磁共振电阻抗成像技术进行原理性研究.针对同心圆盘模型推导了正问题的计算方法及逆问题的重建原理公式,通过仿真分析验证重建方法的正确性,并考察了该方法的抗噪性能.将为进一步研究感应式磁共振电阻抗成像技术的原理及实践提供理论基础.     

Experimental results for 2D magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MR-EIT) using magnetic flux density in one direction

Magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MR-EIT) is an emerging imaging technique that reconstructs conductivity images using magnetic flux density measurements acquired employing MRI together with conventional EIT measurements. In this study, experimental MR-EIT images from phantoms with conducting and insulator objects are presented. The technique is implemented using the 0.15 T Middle East Technical University MRI system. The dc current method used in magnetic resonance current density imaging is adopted. A reconstruction algorithm based on the sensitivity matrix relation between conductivity and only one component of magnetic flux distribution is used. Therefore, the requirement for object rotation is eliminated. Once the relative conductivity distribution is found, it is scaled using the peripheral voltage measurements to obtain the absolute conductivity distribution. Images of several insulator and conductor objects in saline filled phantoms are reconstructed. The L2 norm of relative error in conductivity values is found to be 13%, 17% and 14% for three different conductivity distributions.     

Magnetoacoustic tomography with magnetic induction (MAT-MI) for breast tumor imaging: numerical modeling and simulation

Magnetoacoustic tomography with magnetic induction (MAT-MI) was recently introduced as a noninvasive electrical conductivity imaging approach with high spatial resolution close to ultrasound imaging. In this study, we test the feasibility of the MAT-MI method for breast tumor imaging using numerical modeling and computer simulation. Using the finite element method, we have built three-dimensional numerical breast models with varieties of embedded tumors for this simulation study. In order to obtain an accurate and stable forward solution that does not have numerical errors caused by singular MAT-MI acoustic sources at conductivity boundaries, we first derive an integral forward method for calculating MAT-MI acoustic sources over the entire imaging volume. An inverse algorithm for reconstructing the MAT-MI acoustic source is also derived with spherical measurement aperture, which simulates a practical setup for breast imaging. With the numerical breast models, we have conducted computer simulations under different imaging parameter setups and all the results suggest that breast tumors that have large conductivity in contrast to the surrounding tissue as reported in the literature may be readily detected in the reconstructed MAT-MI images. In addition, our simulations also suggest that the sensitivity of imaging breast tumors using the presented MAT-MI setup depends more on the tumor location and the conductivity contrast between the tumor and its surrounding tissue than on the tumor size.     

基于声学不均匀特性的磁感应磁声成像声压解析

目的 依据人体声学参数,探索磁声耦合成像声信号在声学非均匀媒介中的传播对检测结果的影响.方法 参考人体组织声学特性建立仿真模型,借助有限元分析工具进行电磁场仿真,采用时域有限差分方法求解磁声信号在仿真模型中的传播,并在自由空间采集声压信号.最后,对比研究磁声信号在声学均匀模型和声学非均匀模型中的传播过程.结果 在两个声学模型中声源分布相同,声学非均匀模型中采集的声压信号峰值数量多于声源边界,且声压峰值间的时间间隔与声源边界之间的距离不匹配.结论 初步揭示了声学非均匀特性对磁感应磁声成像的影响,为声学非均匀媒介的重建算法研究奠定了一定基础.     

Design of an electrical impedance tomography phantom using active elements

The architecture of a novel phantom for electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is proposed. The design employs active elements, which include multiplying digital to analogue converters (MDAC), so that the impedance distribution in the phantom may be varied dynamically using computer control. The phantom is designed to assist in the validation of an EIT system under test. A number of published layouts for passive phantoms are analysed, and the requirements for an active element are specified for the most applicable of these. The use of active elements throughout a phantom imposes significant costs because of the need for each active element to operate independently. This proposal limits the cost and complexity by employing active elements in a restricted region of the phantom. Currently available technology, principally due to the limited analogue bandwidth of the MDAC, precludes the construction of a fully capable phantom from active elements. However, a design is specified that would enable its future development to cover the frequency range from 10kHz to 1 MHz.     

Thermoacoustic tomography forward modeling with the spectral element method

A thermoacoustic tomography (TAT) forward solver based on the spectral element method (SEM) with perfectly matched layer absorbing boundary condition has been developed. The TAT forward solver is intended to model acoustically inhomogeneous media with high accuracy in the frequency domain. The high-order basis functions used in the SEM are Gauss-Lobatto-Legendre (GLL) polynomials. Due to the orthogonality of the GLL basis functions and GLL quadrature integration, the mass matrix is diagonal and the stiffness matrix is sparse. Thus, the proposed method greatly reduces the memory requirement and computational time in comparison with the conventional finite element method (FEM). Numerical results show that the high-order SEM is able to achieve the same accuracy as the FEM but with a much smaller number of unknowns. Therefore, the TAT forward solver based on SEM is able to simulate a large-scale and realistic TAT problem.     

Phase artefact reduction in magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MREIT)

Cross-sectional conductivity imaging in magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MREIT) requires the measurement of internal magnetic flux density using an MRI scanner. Current injection MRI techniques have been used to induce magnetic flux density distributions that appear in phase parts of the obtained MR signals. Since any phase error, as well as noise, deteriorates the quality of reconstructed conductivity images, we must minimize them during the data acquisition process. In this paper, we describe a new method to correct unavoidable phase errors to reduce artefacts in reconstructed conductivity images. From numerical simulations and phantom experiments, we found that the zeroth- and first-order phase errors can be effectively minimized to produce better conductivity images. The promising results suggest that this technique should be employed together with improved MREIT pulse sequences in future studies of high-resolution conductivity imaging.