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Biomedical subjects

B Blad

Publications and source records attributed to B Blad.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

A simple test device for electrometers.

Electrometers used in dosimetric instruments need to be checked regularly in order to measure and maintain the prescribed dose to the patient. This paper describes the function of a simple but accurate test device for electrometers. A number of electrometers have been tested and compared with calibrations performed by the Swedish Standard Dosimetry Laboratory (SSDL). The device can be used to test current, resistance, voltage and charge measurements. The charge can be conducted to the electrometer in different ways, and the input resistance of the electrometer can also be determined. The calibration factors obtained by the device are in good agreement with results obtained from calibrations at the SSDL.

Calibration↗
PubMed1996

Clinical applications of characteristic frequency measurements: preliminary in vivo study.

In vivo electrical impedance tomography images have been available for some years, and most of them show variation in impedance amplitude between two different states, for example between inspiration and expiration of the lungs. A refinement of the tomography technique has made it possible to show images of the complex impedance of the body. If several frequencies are used, more information on the investigated tissues can be collected, and new areas made available for investigation. It has been shown that tissues exhibit a characteristic frequency that can be derived from the maximum magnitude of the (negative) reactance. The characteristic frequency-related images can be calculated from several imaginary part curves obtained using the back-projection technique. The paper shows in vivo impedance spectra from different parts of the body, determines the characteristic frequency of the different in vivo measurements and suggests different applications of characteristic frequency imaging. Several data sets are collected to show the reproducibility of the measurements.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

The influence of air humidity on an unsealed ionization chamber in a linear accelerator.

The safe and accurate delivery of the prescribed absorbed dose is the central function of the dose monitoring and beam stabilization system in a medical linear accelerator. The absorbed dose delivered to the patient during radiotherapy is often monitored by a transmission ionization chamber. Therefore it is of utmost importance that the chamber behaves correctly. We have noticed that the sensitivity of an unsealed chamber in a Philips SL linear accelerator changes significantly, especially during and after the summer season. The reason for this is probably a corrosion effect of the conductive plates in the chamber due to the increased relative humidity during hot periods. We have found that the responses of the different ion chamber plates change with variations in air humidity and that they do not return to their original values when the air humidity is returned to ambient conditions.

Air↗
PubMed1996

Impedance spectra of tumour tissue in comparison with normal tissue; a possible clinical application for electrical impedance tomography.

Electrical characteristics of living tissues have been investigated for a long time in the search for further methods to complement the traditional investigations of pathology and physiology. Tumour tissue has been shown to exhibit a larger permittivity and conductivity than normal tissues. This might be associated with the fact that tumour cells have a higher water content and sodium concentration than normal cells, as well as different electrochemical properties of their cell membranes. To our knowledge only a few contributions on this subject have been published. This study describes an additional application on measurements of the complex impedance of tumour and normal tissues, in order to compare the impedance features of the two tissue types. The tissue sample is placed in a measuring cell in which the temperature is controlled. The measuring cell is connected to an impedance meter able to measure the complex impedance in terms of real and imaginary part curves for frequencies from 1.5 kHz to 700 kHz. The four-electrode principle is used with the current injected by the outer electrodes and the voltage difference measured between the inner electrodes. The current can be altered up to 1 mA. The instrument can be calibrated with known resistance and capacitance networks connected to the input of the instrument in order to minimize the measurement errors. The calibration routine uses a polynomial adaptation and can be applied interactively. Measurements performed by the instrument show promising results. Preliminary results show that this method can be extended to a new application for detection of tumour tissue by electrical impedance tomography (EIT).

Animals↗
PubMed1994

A current injecting device for electrical impedance tomography.

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) has to be improved in order to become an accepted diagnostic technique in clinical use. The aim of this study is to improve the hardware of this technique and preferably upgrade the current injecting device. Instead of using a constant current generator the idea is to implement a voltage source and measure current accurately, in order to improve the resolution in the image. The performance of such a device is analysed, particularly concerning theoretical and practical limitations. The amplitude and phase accuracy, noise and settling time are measured and presented in diagrams. The results show that improvements are possible to achieve and that such a device will improve the stability of an EIT system and the image quality.

Electric Impedance↗
PubMedDate not supplied

An electrical impedance index to distinguish between normal and cancerous tissues.

Bioimpedance measurements have previously shown that cancerous tissues in many cases have a higher characteristic frequency than normal tissues. This paper tries to find an index which is sensitive to variation in the characteristic frequency but is independent of the impedance value itself. Calculated indexes from several publications in most cases show values larger than one for cancerous tissues and less than one for normal tissues.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Quantitative assessment of impedance tomography for temperature measurements in hyperthermia.

The objective of this study is a non-invasive assessment of the thermal dose in hyperthermia. Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) has previously been given a first trial as a temperature monitoring method together with microwave-induced hyperthermia treatment, but it has not been thoroughly investigated. In the present work we have examined this method in order to investigate the correlation in vitro between the true spatial temperature distribution and the corresponding measured relative resistivity changes. Different hyperthermia techniques, such as interstitial water tubings, microwave-induced, laser-induced and ferromagnetic seeds have been used. The results show that it is possible to find a correlation between the measured temperature values and the tomographically measured relative resistivity changes in tissue-equivalent phantoms. But the uncertainty of the temperature coefficients, which has been observed, shows that the method has to be improved before it can be applied to clinical in vivo applications.

Body Temperature↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Waveform generator for electrical impedance tomography (EIT) using linear interpolation with multiplying D/A converters.

This paper describes the implementation of a multiplying digital-to-analogue (D/A) converter as a programmable waveform generator to be used in an electrical impedance tomography (EIT) system. Different digital techniques of generation waveforms are considered and the advantages and disadvantages of the chosen slope-plus-pedestal technique are presented. A wire-wrapped prototype system has been designed, and from measured frequency spectra the total harmonic distortion can be calculated to values between 1.1 and 2.9% depending on frequency.

Analog-Digital Conversion↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The influence of the magnetron frequency, the servo settings and the gantry angle on the flatness and the dose calibration of a linear accelerator.

For the Philips SL75/5, we have noticed that the performance of the beam (e.g. the hump) varies with the settings of the magnetron frequency and the gantry angle. This study investigated these changes and the optimum magnetron frequency setting was determined. The relation between the relative absorbed dose measured by the accelerator and the relative absorbed dose measured for different amounts of the hump in the centre of the beam was found. Results from a model and from measured values were compared. The beam was studied for different gantry angles and for different adjustments of the beam servo systems. The profiles obtained showed some variations, but were reduced when optimal adjustments of the servos were performed.

Particle Accelerators↗