Rasool Baghbani1, Mohammad Hassan Moradi1, Mohammad Behgam Shadmehr2. 1. Biomedical Engineering Department, Amirkabir University of Technology , Tehran , Iran. 2. Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tracheal Diseases Research Center (TDRC), National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (NRITLD), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences , Tehran , Iran.
Abstract
Purpose: Identifying and localizing the invisible and nonpalpable pulmonary nodules are among the main challenges surgeons face during open and thoracoscopic surgeries. This in vitro study explores the feasibility of utilizing a simple and safe electrical bioimpedance probe in locating the pulmonary nodules by sweeping the surface of the lung tissue. Methods: A probe was designed with four spherical electrodes that were used for recording the bioimpedance spectrum of the lung tissue in a frequency range of 50 kHz to 5 MHz. In each of the 10 resected surgical specimens, the bioimpedance of normal lung tissue as well as the tumoral lung tissue were recorded and compared with each other. Results: By drawing the Nyquist curves, it was determined that the amplitude of the electrical impedance measured by moving the probe from the healthy point to the region of the pulmonary nodule decreases and the frequency characteristics of the bioimpedance spectrum increases. Conclusion: This method could be potentially beneficial in the localization of invisible and even nonpalpable in-depth pulmonary nodules in thoracic surgeries.
Purpose: Identifying and localizing the invisible and nonpalpable pulmonary nodules are among the main challenges surgeons face during open and thoracoscopic surgeries. This in vitro study explores the feasibility of utilizing a simple and safe electrical bioimpedance probe in locating the pulmonary nodules by sweeping the surface of the lung tissue. Methods: A probe was designed with four spherical electrodes that were used for recording the bioimpedance spectrum of the lung tissue in a frequency range of 50 kHz to 5 MHz. In each of the 10 resected surgical specimens, the bioimpedance of normal lung tissue as well as the tumoral lung tissue were recorded and compared with each other. Results: By drawing the Nyquist curves, it was determined that the amplitude of the electrical impedance measured by moving the probe from the healthy point to the region of the pulmonary nodule decreases and the frequency characteristics of the bioimpedance spectrum increases. Conclusion: This method could be potentially beneficial in the localization of invisible and even nonpalpable in-depth pulmonary nodules in thoracic surgeries.
Entities:
Keywords:
Nyquist curve; electrical bioimpedance probe; frequency characteristics; pulmonary nodules; sweeping; thoracoscopic surgery