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GREIT: a unified approach to 2D linear EIT reconstruction of lung images

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Andy Adler1, John H Arnold1, Richard Bayford3, Andrea Borsic4, Brian Brown5, Paul Dixon6, Theo J C Faes7, Inéz Frerichs8, Hervé Gagnon9, Yvo Gärber10, Bartłomiej Grychtol11, Günter Hahn12, William R B Lionheart13, Anjum Malik14, Robert P Patterson15, Janet Stocks16, Andrew Tizzard3, Norbert Weiler8 and Gerhard K Wolf2

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Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is an attractive method for clinically monitoring patients during mechanical ventilation, because it can provide a non-invasive continuous image of pulmonary impedance which indicates the distribution of ventilation. However, most clinical and physiological research in lung EIT is done using older and proprietary algorithms; this is an obstacle to interpretation of EIT images because the reconstructed images are not well characterized. To address this issue, we develop a consensus linear reconstruction algorithm for lung EIT, called GREIT (Graz consensus Reconstruction algorithm for EIT). This paper describes the unified approach to linear image reconstruction developed for GREIT. The framework for the linear reconstruction algorithm consists of (1) detailed finite element models of a representative adult and neonatal thorax, (2) consensus on the performance figures of merit for EIT image reconstruction and (3) a systematic approach to optimize a linear reconstruction matrix to desired performance measures. Consensus figures of merit, in order of importance, are (a) uniform amplitude response, (b) small and uniform position error, (c) small ringing artefacts, (d) uniform resolution, (e) limited shape deformation and (f) high resolution. Such figures of merit must be attained while maintaining small noise amplification and small sensitivity to electrode and boundary movement. This approach represents the consensus of a large and representative group of experts in EIT algorithm design and clinical applications for pulmonary monitoring. All software and data to implement and test the algorithm have been made available under an open source license which allows free research and commercial use.


PACS

87.63.Pn Electrical impedance tomography (EIT)

87.19.R- Mechanical and electrical properties of tissues and organs

87.57.N- Image analysis

87.57.C- Image quality

Subjects

Biological physics

Medical physics

Dates

Issue 6 (June 2009)

Received 3 December 2008, accepted for publication 10 March 2009

Published 2 June 2009



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