Applications of Electrical Impedance Tomography in Neurology

Abstract

Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) is a non-invasive technique utilized in various medical applications, including brain imaging and other neurological diseases. EIT is one of the modern medical imaging techniques which use surface measurements for reconstruction of the conductivity distribution of a cross-section. Recognizing the physiological and anatomical characteristics of organs based on their electrical properties is one of the main applications of EIT, as each variety of tissue structures has individual electrical characteristics. The high potential of brain EIT in real-time supervision and early recognition of cerebral brain infarction, hemorrhage, and other diseases established. Many studies are performed on EIT, although the available information is incohesive and inconclusive, which is most likely the reason for such an effective technology being dormant and not used routinely. In this investigation, we review the studies performed on neurological applications of EIT to provide the researchers with sufficient information for a probable more comprehensive research in the future. In this study we found that EIT is a very useful device for brain imaging, capturing fast electrical activities in the brain, imaging epileptic seizure, detecting intracranial bleeding, detecting Cerebral Edema, and diagnosing stroke.