Hyperthermic cancer treatment is an increasingly important adjuvant to chemotherapy and other radiation procedures. Recent advances in multi-element, focused and scanning hyperthermia devices have increased the accuracy of 2D and 3D power deposition, requiring more advanced thermometry systems for adequate feedback control and treatment monitoring. Current invasive thermometry devices do not provide accurate thermal distribution images, while non-invasive methods such as CT and MRI are expensive and do not provide continuous imaging. The proposed device involves Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) to generate impedance maps of the tissue, which can then be converted to a temperature image. EIT will provide the following features: accurate thermal distribution maps, continuous monitoring, mobility, inexpensive, noninvasive. Research in EIT has established its effectiveness in both in-vitro and in-vivo thermometry. To this point, however, development has focused on reconstruction, not hardware. BIOMEC will create a device that will incorporate electronic miniaturization and the adaptability to accommodate new electrode switching schemes and improved reconstruction algorithms. This repackaged and compact design will take BIT from the research lab to the commercial marketplace. This project involves the development of a platform device, which can be tailored to thermometry and other EIT applications, in Phase II.
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