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A study on correlation between structure and resistivity variations was performed for live adult human skull. The resistivities of 388 skull samples, excised from 48 skull flaps of patients undergoing surgery, were measured at body temperature (36.5[degrees]C) using the well-known four-electrode method in the frequency range of 1-4 MHz. According to different structures of the skull samples, all the 388 samples were classified into six categories and measured their resistivities: standard trilayer skull (7943 [+ or -] 1752 [ohms] x cm, 58 samples), quasi-trilayer skull (14471 [+ or -] 3061 [ohms] x cm, 110 samples), standard compact skull (26546 [+ or -] 5374 [ohms] x cm, 62 samples), quasi-compact skull (19824 [+ or -] 3232 [ohms] x cm, 53 samples), dentate suture skull (5782 [+ or -] 1778 [ohms] x cm, 41 samples), and squamous suture skull (12747 [+ or -] 4120 [ohms] x cm, 64 samples). The results showed that the skull resistivities were not homogenous and were significantly influenced by local structural variations. The presence of sutures appeared to decrease the overall resistivity of particular regions largely and dentate suture decreased the resistivity more than squamous suture. The absence of diploe appeared to increase skull resistivity. The percentage on thickness of diploe would be the primary factor in determining the resistivity of the skull sample without suture. From resistivity spectra results, an inverse relationship between skull resistivity and signal frequency was found. Index Terms--Diploe, resistivity, skull, structure, suture.

In electrical impedance tomography, currents are applied to the body through electrodes that are attached to the surface and the corresponding surface voltages are measured. Based on these boundary measurements, the internal admittivity distribution of the body can be reconstructed. In order to improve the image quality it is necessary and useful to apply physiologically meaningful prior information into the image reconstruction. Such prior information usually can be obtained from other sources. For example, information on the object's boundary shape and internal structure can be obtained from computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging scan. However, this type of prior information may change from time to time and from person to person. As these changes are limited anatomically and physiologically, the prior information including the possible changes can be presented in a number of variational forms. The aim of this paper is to find which form of prior information is more compatible for a specific imaged object at the time of imaging. This paper proposes a new method for selecting the most appropriate form of prior information, through the procedure of iterative image reconstruction by using the information obtained from boundary measurements. The method is based on the principle that incompatible prior information causes errors which are able to affect the image reconstruction's convergence behavior. In this method, according to the various forms of prior information available, several image reconstruction configurations are designed. Then, through monitoring the convergence behavior in an iterative image reconstruction, the configuration with compatible prior information can be found among those different configurations. As an example, the prior information regarding the imaged object's boundary shape and internal structure was studied by computer simulation. Results were shown and discussed. Index Terms--Compatible, electrical impedance tomography, image reconstruction, imaging, prior information.

We proposed a new method based on total relative change (TRC) from measured boundary voltages to quantify the volume changes of fluid during electrical impedance tomography (EIT) monitoring. The results showed that TRC linearly correlated with the volume of infused saline solution into a phantom, and the slope of TRC changes was approximately linear with the infusion speed. A inserted copper tube at different positions did not affect TRC significantly. The linear relationship between TRC and volume change indicates that TRC could be a good quantitative index for dynamic EIT. Index Terms--Electrical impedance tomography, quantification, total relative change.