Reconstructing and Interrupting the Epileptic Circuit Activity Using Electrical Impedance Tomography and Penetrating Depth Electrodes

1)简要介绍研究背景，包括潜在影响研究项目涉及使用新型医学成像方法--电阻抗断层扫描(EIT)对大脑中的正常活动和临床异常(如中风和癫痫发作)进行成像。这种方法包括一盒大约一本精装书和笔记本电脑大小的电子设备，通常使用心电图型电极的环进行测量。在过去的二十年里，已经开发出用于成像快速电活动或大脑中较慢变化的系统，例如中风或癫痫。它们在动物和坦克研究中显示出很好的效果，但还不可能将其转化为医院使用。该项目的想法是使用EIT成像患有癫痫的受试者的大脑中的电活动。这将促进对大脑如何编码信息的理解，并有助于癫痫和精神疾病的创新治疗。2)目的和目标--具体目标是：1.开发先进的信号处理方法和成像算法2。协助分析癫痫患者记录产生的数据。3)研究方法的新颖性：EIT可能是癫痫发作的革命性进步。EIT有两个主要优点：阻抗是各向同性的，所以阻抗何时改变，偶极子朝向哪个方向都无关紧要，另一个优点是，当电极放置在头骨上时，癫痫活动的位置有很深的覆盖。这使得可以对发作起始区进行成像，从而避免了对颅内电极的需要及其相关的发病率和复杂性。与EEG不同，EIT可以成像到头部深处，因此可以在门诊环境中更准确地诊断癫痫综合征。4)与EPSRC的战略和研究领域保持一致：该项目与EPSRC医疗保健技术的重大挑战保持一致。特别是，它涉及“医疗器械设计与创新”、“用于传感和分析的颠覆性技术”的交叉能力，申请“开发未来疗法”和“物理干预前沿”5)任何涉及的公司或合作者：CyQiq有限公司。

1) Brief description of the context of the research including potential impactThe research project concerns imaging normal activity and clinical abnormalities in the brain such as stroke and epileptic seizures using the new medical imaging method of Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT). This method comprises a box of electronics about the size of a hardback book and laptop and measurements are made typically using rings of ECG type electrodes. Over the past two decades, systems have been developed for imaging either fast electrical activity or else slower changes in the brain such as in stroke or epilepsy. These have been shown to work well in animal and tank studies but it has not yet been possible to translate this into hospital use. The idea of the project is to use EIT to image electrical activity in the brain in human subjects with epilepsy. This will advance understanding of how the brain codes information and assist in innovative treatments for epilepsy and psychiatric illness.2) Aims and Objectives -The specific objectives are to:1. Develop advanced signal processing methods and imaging algorithms2. Assist in the analysis of the data produced from epileptic patients' recordings.3) Novelty of Research Methodology: EIT can be a revolutionary advance for Epileptic seizures. EIT has 2 main advantages: The impedance is isotropic so it doesn't matter when the impedance changes, which way the dipole is facing, and the other advantage is that there is deep coverage of the location of epileptic activity when the electrode is placed on the skull. This could permit imaging of the ictal onset zone and so avoid the need for intracranial electrodes and their associated morbidity and complexity. Unlike the EEG, EIT can image deep into the head, so this would permit much more accurate diagnosis of epilepsy syndromes in an out-patient setting.4) Alignment to EPSRC's strategies and research areas: The project aligns with the EPSRC Healthcare technologies grand challenges. In particular, it involves "medical device design and innovation", "Disruptive technologies for sensing and analysis" cross-cutting capabilities, applied for "developing the future therapies" and "Frontiers of physical intervention"5) Any companies or collaborators involved: Cyqiq Ltd.