Forward problem based on the conductivity characteristics of head tissues: simulation research

Abstract

Objectives This paper is focused on the investigation of effects of inhomogeneous head tissues and anisotropic skull as well as white matter conductivity distribution on magnetic and electric field distribution of electric impedance tomography (EIT) and magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MREIT) based on the five-layer FEM head modeling.Methods Four different characteristics head models were set:homogeneous distribution,inhomogeneous distribution,anisotropic skull and white matter distribution.Electric and magnetic field distribution were obtained by the performance of numeric solving of the forward problem,and the effects of inhomogeneous conductivity and anisotropic conductivity on the distribution were studied by applying the quantitative statistical analysis.Results The present results showed that inhomogeneous and anisotropic characteristics can significantly alter the electric field and current density distributions then the magnetic field distribution induced in the brain.Conclusion The conclusion provides theoretical basis for the application of MREIT in the reconstruction of inhomogeneous and anisotropic conductivity of head tissues. Key words: Electric impedance tomography; Magnetic resonance electric impedance tomography; Inhomogeneous conductivity; Anisotropic conductivity; Finite element method