In vivo bioimpedance measurement of healthy and ischaemic rat brain: implications for stroke imaging using electrical impedance tomography.

In order to facilitate the imaging of haemorrhagic and ischaemic stroke using frequency difference electrical impedance tomography (EIT), impedance measurements of normal and ischaemic brain, and clotted blood during haemorrhage, were gathered using a four-terminal technique in an in vivo animal model, a first for ischaemic measurements. Differences of 5-10% in impedance were seen between the frequency spectrums of healthy and ischaemic brain, over the frequency range 0-3 kHz, while the spectrum of blood was predominately uniform. The implications of imaging blood/ischaemia in the brain using electrical impedance tomography are discussed, supporting the notion that it will be possible to differentiate stroke from haemorrhage.