Analysis of bone placements and effects of skin-fat thickness of obese in the measurement of electrical impedance myography (EIM) through finite element analysis

Abstract

Electrical impedance myography (EIM), an electrophysiological technique, is recently proposed as a non-invasive technique for the assessment of muscle health. To better understand EIM's ability in its application in different neuromuscular diseases or conditions, a finite element model of EIM has been developed recently which successfully predicts the actual measurement results through the modeling. In this study, we attempt to analyze different physiological aspects in the model and their effects in EIM measurement. In particular, the orientation of bone and its distance from the measuring electrodes at the top of the skin and effects of fat-skin thickness in obesity have been simulated. A finite element model of bicep-femoris for EIM measurement has been modeled. Results show non-significant effects for the bone (humerus in this case) distance from the measuring electrodes. For obesity, we simulated skin-fat thickness as normal, 25% and 50% of muscle thickness. Results show that multifrequency behavior of EIM parameters does not change with of the increase in skin-fat thickness as expected in obesity.