Simulation study on induced current magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography of brain tissues

Induced current magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (IC-MREIT) was used to reconstruct electrical conductivity of the brain tissues. A series of simulation studies were conducted using the three-sphere head model. Firstly, the sensitivity matrix was built according to the perturbation of secondary magnetic flux density with respect to the perturbation of element conductivity of finite-element head model. Secondly, the effects of the number of excitation coils, as well as the relative placement between them and the three-sphere head model and their radii on property of sensitivity matrix were analyzed, for the purpose of guiding rationale design of excitation coils in IC-MREIT system. Finally, the sensitivity matrix method was adopted to reconstruct non-uniform electrical conductivity distribution of the three-sphere head model. The present simulation study indicates the feasibility and potential applications of IC-MREIT to reconstruct the electrical conductivity distribution of brain tissues.