The Mk3.5 aEIT System: a Review of Recent Updates and Future Trends

Abstract

The Mk3.5 absolute EIT system provides the ability to non-invasively and continuously monitor the absolute resistivity and regional ventilation distribution in the lungs. This can greatly enhance clinical diagnosis of lung diseases such as edema and emphysema and guide the proper setting of ventilation therapy in critically ill patients. To produce the absolute resistivity, the transfer impedance measurements obtained from the boundary data are compared, over a pre-determined fixed region of interest, to those predicted from a model of the human thorax adjusted to the subject’s size and geometry. The purpose of this study is to continue the series of amendments carried out by the authors to enhance the accuracy and consistency of the estimated lung absolute volume and resistivity in the Mk3.5 aEIT and to develop further the zone of interest of the lungs in relationship with the thoracic shape which will also allow the estimation of lung ventilation distribution in the anterior/posterior left and right lung quadrants to be improved.