Development of the multichannel simultaneous magnetic induction measurement system musimitos

Abstract

In many clinical applications, the monitoring of heart and lung activity is of vital importance. State of the art monitoring implies the use of electrodes or other contact based sensors (electrocardiogram (ECG), impedance cardiography (ICG), pulse oximetry or equivalent). Hereby, side effects like skin irritation, difficult application or additional cabling may occur. As known from bioimpedance applications, heart and lung activity can be monitored by impedance fluctuations within the chest region. This paper presents an extensible multichannel simultaneous magnetic induction Tomography Measurement System (Mussimitos), which is especially suited for contact-less monitohng of repeated fast impedance changes and allows a simultaneous measurement of more than 12 channels. In addition to an overall system description, special focus is given to the dynamic behavior and bandwidth requirements of heart and lung activity monitoring. Additionally, performance specifications and first in vivo results are presented. © Springer-Verlag 2007.