Impedance imaging based on hexahedral FEM realistic head model : Simulation research

Abstract

The paper is about impedance imaging of the human head tissues by means of magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MREIT), basically focuses on the simulation research performed on the hexahedral FEM meshing realistic head model. MREIT is a non-invasive conductivity imaging modality that combines Current Density Imaging (CDI) and traditional Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) techniques. MREIT, designed to deal with the well-known ill-posed problem in traditional EIT, has been applied to reconstruct the conductivities of human head tissues. We have developed the sophisticated hexahedral meshing realistic geometry finite element method (FEM) head models, with five tissues including the scalp, skull, CSF, gray matter and white matter. To evaluate the model, impedance imaging reconstruction using the classic J-substitution MREIT algorithm is performed for its easy realization. The present simulation results show that the high space resolution FEM head model has its potential application especially combined with MREIT or EIT method. Some quantified results proves our work so far that the high resolution combined MREIT algorithms can provide useful and accurate conductivity information for further investigations on impedance imaging of the anisotropic human head tissues.