• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.207-214
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• 2005

Breast cancer detection using electrical impedance techniques is based on numerous experimental findings that cancerous tissues have higher electrical conductivity values than normal tissues. Lately, by taking advantage of the structure of current flows underneath a planar probe of array electrodes, a mathematical formula to find lesions from a measured trans­admittance map has been derived. In order to experimentally validate its mathematical analysis and the suggested lesion estimation algorithm, we developed a 256-channel trans-admittance scanner (TAS) for probing anomalies underneath a planar array of electrodes. In this paper, we describe the design and implementation of the TAS. Its performance together with the lesion estimation algorithm was evaluated using saline phantoms. Further studies are proposed to validate the system on human subjects.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.84-94
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• 2007

In order to collect information on local distribution of conductivity and permittivity underneath a scan probe, we developed a multi-frequency trans-admittance scanner (TAS). Applying a sinusoidal voltage with variable frequency on a chosen distal part of a human body, we measure exit currents from 320 grounded electrodes placed on a chosen surface of the subject. The electrodes are packaged inside a small and light scan probe. The system includes one voltage source and 17 digital ammeters. Front-end of each ammeter is a current-to-voltage converter with virtual grounding of a chosen electrode. The rest of the ammeter is a voltmeter performing digital phase-sensitive demodulation. Using resistor loads, we calibrate the system including the scan probe to compensate frequency-dependent variability of current measurements and also inter-channel variability among multiple. We found that SNR of each ammeter is about 85dB and the minimal measurable current is 5nA. Using saline phantoms with objects made from TX-151, we verified the performance of the lesion estimation algorithm. The error rate of the depth estimation was about 19.7%. For the size estimate, the error rate was about 15.3%. The results suggest improvement in lesion estimation algorithm based on multi-frequency trans-admittance data.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.335-342
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• 2004

This paper describes a trans-admittance scanner for breast cancer detection. A FPGA-based sinusoidal waveform generator produces a constant voltage. The voltage is applied between a hand-held electrode and a scan probe placed on the breast. The scan probe contains an 8x8 array of electrodes that are kept at the ground potential. Multi-channel precision digital ammeters using the phase-sensitive demodulation technique were developed to measure the exit current from each electrode in the array. Different regions of the breast are scanned by moving the probe on the breast. We could get trans-admittance images of resistor and saline phantoms with an anomaly inside. The images provided the information on the depth and location of the anomaly. In future studies, we need to improve the accuracy through a better calibration method. We plan to test the scanner's ability to detect a cancer lesion inside the human breast.