Clinical application of Electrical Impedance Tomography in the Present Health Scenario of India

Early detection of Breast Cancer is currently emerging as a big clinical entity requiring a non invasive, radiation less, harmless, cost effective diagnostic technique. Survival is improved if detected early. Breast Cancer is the second most common cancer in India. Health corporate system of India is urgently requiring a cost effective, noninvasive novel technique like “Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT)” for screening large poor rural population of India for early diagnosis of Breast Cancer. EIT is the technique to visualize spatial distribution of Electro-impedance (or conductivity) inside the object, such as human body. A medical device which allows imaging of the distribution of conductivity in 3D in regions below the skin surface has been developed and tested. Its purpose is to enable early detection and preliminary diagnosis of breast tumors. The system uses a planar array consisting of 256 electrodes and enables obtaining images of the three-dimensional conductivity distribution in regions below the skin’s surface up to several centimeters deep. The developed measuring system and image reconstruction algorithm can be used for breast tissue imaging and diagnostic, in particular for malignant tumor detection. Initially ten patients as control and ten patients with breast lesions have been studied with this new technique. It was found that electrical impedance mammograms from different groups has clear visual distinctions and statistically significant difference in breast glands conductivity. The results are quiet encouraging. EIT may emerge as the first line noninvasive imaging method of choice for screening large population for early detection of breast cancer.