The First Mummy Range Workshop in Electrical Impedance Tomography

电阻抗断层扫描（EIT）是一种医学成像技术，其中通过身体表面的电极施加低水平的电流，在电极上测量产生的电压，并通过计算解决反问题以确定内部的电导率分布。在EIT中，成像区域通常是身体的横截面，例如患者的胸部。人体的组织和器官具有不同的电导率，这一事实使人们能够从电导率分布中形成图像。在EIT中，工程和数学之间存在着重要的相互作用。设计一个快速、准确的EIT系统提出了许多工程挑战。数学帮助解决了设计问题，比如什么是最佳的电流模式，应该使用什么数量和尺寸的电极，以及需要多大的测量精度来区分非均匀性。为了对人体过程进行实时成像，求解逆问题的重构算法必须非常高效。此外，对于某些应用，如区分乳腺肿瘤和囊肿，重建的电导率值必须准确。重建算法的设计借鉴了许多数学领域，包括偏微分方程、分析和复变量、数学建模、数值分析和科学计算。电阻抗断层成像木乃伊范围研讨会的目标是将在电阻抗断层成像领域工作的数学家、工程师和医生聚集在一起，以增加小组之间的沟通，并解决当前在设计问题、应用和重建算法方面的问题。据组织者所知，这是EIT领域第一次专门召集这些团体的会议。研讨会将在科罗拉多州立大学的Pingree Park校区举行，这是一个位于落基山脉木乃伊山脉的会议中心。通过将这些团队聚集在一起，我们希望扩大EIT的临床应用，并在系统设计和重建算法方面推动技术的发展。EIT的一些重要临床应用包括监测心肺功能、诊断肺栓塞（肺中的血块）、诊断肺水肿、监测内出血和早期发现乳腺癌。参加研讨会的小组将介绍这些应用和其他应用的工作，如癫痫和中风期间大脑的成像变化，以及通过阻抗光谱监测热疗期间的癌症组织。几个小组正在介绍为特定应用（如乳腺癌检测）设计新系统的工作，并将介绍新的重建算法。研讨会的网址是http://www.eitworkshop.org。

Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) is a medical imaging technique in whichlow levels of current are applied through electrodes on the surface of thebody, the resulting voltage is measured on the electrodes, and an inverseproblem is solved computationally to determine the conductivity distribution inthe interior. In EIT the imaged region is often a cross-section of the body, such asa patient's chest. The tissues and organs in the body have differentconductivities, a fact which enables one to form an image from theconductivity distribution. There is an essential interplay in EIT between engineering and mathematics. The design of a fast and accurate EIT system poses many engineering challenges. Mathematics has helped solve design issues such as what are the optimal current patterns to apply, what number and size of electrodes should be used, and what measurement precision is need to distinguishinhomogeneities. In order to image human processes in real time, the reconstruction algorithms that solve the inverse problem must be very efficient. Furthermore, for certain applications, such as distinguishing a breast tumor from a cyst, the reconstructed conductivity values must be accurate. The design of reconstruction algorithms draws on many areas of mathematics including partial differential equations, analysis and complex variables,mathematical modeling, numerical analysis, and scientific computation.The goal of the Mummy Range Workshop in Electrical Impedance Tomography is to bring together mathematicians, engineers, and physicians working in EIT to increase the communication between the groups and address current problems in design issues, applications, and reconstruction algorithms. To the organizers' knowledge, this is the first conference in EIT specifically designed to bring together these groups. The workshop will be held at the Pingree Park Campus of Colorado State University, a conference center located in the Mummy Range of the Rocky Mountains. By bringing these groups together, we hope to expand theclinical applications of EIT and push the technology forward in terms of systemdesign and reconstruction algorithms. Several important existing clinical applications of EIT include monitoring heart and lung function, diagnosis ofpulmonary embolis (a blood clot in the lung), diagnosis of pulmonary edema, monitoring for internal bleeding, and the early detection of breast cancer.Groups attending the workshop will be presenting work on these applications and others such as imaging changes in the brain during epilepsy and stroke and monitoring of cancer tissue during hyperthermia by impedance spectroscopy. Several groups are presenting work on the design of new systems for specific applications such as breast cancer detection, and novel reconstruction algorithms will be presented. The workshop website is http://www.eitworkshop.org.