Automated filtering in the nonlinear Fourier domain of systematic artifacts in 2D electrical impedance tomography

Abstract

For patients undergoing mechanical ventilation due to respiratory failure, 2D electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is emerging as a means to provide functional monitoring of pulmonary processes. In EIT, electrical current is applied to the body, and the internal conductivity distribution is reconstructed based on subsequent voltage measurements. However, EIT images are known to often suffer from large systematic artifacts arising from various limitations and exacerbated by the ill-posedness of the inverse problem. The direct D-bar reconstruction method admits a nonlinear Fourier analysis of the EIT problem, providing the ability to process and filter reconstructions in the nonphysical frequency regime. In this work, a technique is introduced for automated Fourier-domain filtering of known systematic artifacts in 2D D-bar reconstructions. The new method is validated using three numerically simulated static thoracic datasets with induced artifacts, plus two experimental dynamic human ventilation datasets containing systematic artifacts. Application of the method is shown to significantly reduce the appearance of artifacts and improve the shape of the lung regions in all datasets.