The feasibility of Hall effect imaging in humans

Abstract

Hall effect imaging is a new technique for mapping the electrical properties of a sample non-invasively. Its principle has been demonstrated with two and three-dimensional imaging of phantoms and biological samples. This paper addresses the potential of this technique for diagnostic imaging of the human body, based on experimental data and theoretical models of this technique developed over the past few years. The analysis is applicable to complex biological samples in general. The arguments are given at the basic physics level, so that the conclusion is independent of current technology status. These arguments are corroborated with imaging experiments of an aorta sample. The conclusion is that Hall effect imaging is not suited for quantifying the electrical constants in complex biological systems. Although this technique is able to produce detailed images that qualitatively reflect the electrical heterogeneity of a tissue sample, quantitative measurements of electrical constants are not practical for complex biological systems.