Induced current magnetic resonance-electrical impedance tomography.

Magnetic resonance-electrical impedance tomography (MR-EIT) is a conductivity imaging method based on injecting currents into the object. In this study, a new MR-EIT method, whereby currents are induced inside the object by using external coils, is proposed. This new method is called induced current magnetic resonance-electrical impedance tomography. In induced current MR-EIT surface electrodes are not used and thereby artifacts due to electrodes are eliminated. The reconstruction algorithm is based on the measurement of only one component of the secondary magnetic flux density. The algorithm is an iterative one, is 3D and is based on the solution of a linear matrix equation at each iteration. For the measurement of secondary magnetic flux density, a pulse sequence to be used in the MRI system is proposed. Numerical simulations are performed to test the algorithm for both noise-free and noisy cases. The singular value behavior of the matrix is monitored and it is observed that at least two current induction profiles improve the images significantly. It is shown that induced current MR-EIT can be used to reconstruct absolute conductivity images without the need for any additional peripheral voltage measurement.