Lung Impedance Contributions to the Total Impedance based on a FDM Model and Lead Field Theory

Predicting tissue resistivity is of significance in medical diagnosis due to the fact that disease induces related tissue resistivity change. Studies have shown that the lung and tissues tumors reflect significant impedance change with disease states. It is hypothesized that the impedance measurement with the largest contribution from the organ of interest will result in less error. In this paper, we determined the percentage contribution of the lung impedance to the total impedance for five different external electrode configurations using a high resolution finite difference model (FDM) of the thorax along with lead field theory. The electrode combinations showed a contribution by the lungs of approximately 20% of the total impedance. Many configurations showed contributions of 15%. The results also showed that each lung could be isolated from the opposite lung