Evaluation of a multi-electrode bioimpedance spectroscopy tensor probe to detect the anisotropic conductivity spectra of biological tissues

摘要

This paper presents bioimpedance spectroscopy measurements of anisotropic tissues using a 16 electrode probe and reconstruction method of estimating the anisotropic impedance spectrum in a local region just underneath the center of the probe. This may enable in-vivo surface bioimpedance measurements with similar performance to the ex-vivo gold standard that requires excising and placing the entire tissue sample in a unit measurement cell with uniform electric field. The multiple surface electrodes enable us to create a focused current pattern so that the resulting measured voltage is more sensitive to a local region and less sensitive to other areas. This is exploited in a reconstruction method to provide improved bioimpedance and anisotropy measurements. In this paper, we describe the current pattern for localized electrical energy concentration, performance with the spring loaded pin electrodes, data calibration and experimental results on anisotropic agar phantoms and different tissue types. The anisotropic conductivity spectra are able to differentiate insulating films of different thickness and detect their orientation. Bioimpedance spectra of biological tissues are in agreement with published data and reference instruments. The anisotropy expressed as the ratio of eigenvalues and the orientation of eigenfunctions were reconstructed at 45° intervals. This information is used to predict the underlying anisotropy of the region under the probe. Tissue measurements clearly demonstrate the expected higher anisotropy of muscle tissue compared to liver tissue and spectral changes.