Utilization of esophageal reference electrode to enhance impedance imaging

Summary form only given. The authors report on the results of an analysis of the expected improvement in distinguishability of target inhomogeneities when an esophageal reference electrode is located on the target-body interface. One-dimensional (1-D), two-dimensional (2-D) circular, and three-dimensional (3-D) spherical models were utilized for the evaluation. The results indicate an increase in the absolute value of the maximum difference between the voltages recorded with an insulating target present and no target present of a factor of two for the 1-D case and a factor of from two to more than ten for the 2-D and 3-D cases. The large enhancements for the 2-D and 3-D cases with small-diameter targets may indicate that the esophageal reference electrode acts as a focusing mechanism.