ROI-Based Image Reconstruction of Electrical Impedance Tomography Used to Detect Regional Conductivity Variation

Abstract

The advantages of noninvasive, fast speed, low-cost, and nonionizing radiation hazard have made electrical impedance tomography (EIT) an attractive imaging technology in geological, medical, and industrial applications. However, the EIT image has low spatial resolution due to the limited number of independent measurements and soft-field property. Focused on the fact that, in some applications, the conductivity variation exists only in part of the sensing field, this paper proposes a new strategy to enhance the image quality by restricting the image reconstruction within a region of interest (RROI). Compared with the conventional image reconstruction over the entire sensing field, the proposed strategy of RROI can improve regional image resolution effectively without increasing the number of electrodes and the complexity of the data acquisition system. The implementation of a conventional sensitivity-theorem-based conjugate gradient algorithm with the proposed RROI strategy is presented, and the improvement of image spatial resolution in region of interest is demonstrated by both simulations and phantom experiments.