Electrical impedance computed tomography in three-dimensional imaging

Electrical impedance computed tomography (EICT) is the technique which reconstructs the image within a body based on the variation of electrical conductivity and permittivity by using electrical measurements on its boundary. It has the advantages of reduced biological hazard and less expensive hardware, therefore, it can be used as an alternative means for continuous monitoring in medical or environmental applications. Efforts have been made to develop algorithms and to improve the image quality in 2D imaging. Many algorithms employ the Poisson (Laplace) equation to describe the potential distributions with the finite element method. The present paper discusses the models for EICT in 3D applications and the excitation/measurement pattern effects on image quality, and presents simulation results. A network approach to study the features of EICT algorithms is introduced in the paper, so that the discretization problems will not affect the evaluations of an EICT algorithm.