Assessing global and regional pulmonary function with electrical impedance tomography in pediatric patients: the EIT-derived flow-volume loops

Abstract

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) provides regional information on lung ventilation which can be applied during a routine pulmonary function test. During spirometry, the flow-volume loop and other parameters such as FEV1 and MEF75 are measured for clinical assessment. In this work, we aim to investigate the use of EIT in assessing global and regional lung function. We conduct a clinical study performing spirometry and electrical impedance tomography simultaneously on our pediatric patients. Lung function parameters were calculated separately using the spirometric and the EIT data. The EIT data were scaled for a direct comparison between the two data sets. As a result, spirometric and EIT-derived flow-volume loops correlate strongly with each other (see Fig.1). High correlated parameters were observed from both modalities. EIT provides regional flow-volume loops which demonstrate the positive changes of the loops before and after bronchospasmolysis.

Authors 5

1. Chuong Ngo Aachen Medical Information Technology (MedIT)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Medical Information Technology, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany

2. Sylvia G. Lehmann Aachen Dept of Pediatrics Div. of Pediatric Pneumology

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Dept of Pediatrics Div. of Pediatric Pneumology, Allergology and Immunology, RWTH Aachencal Information Technology, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany

3. Eva Verjans Aachen Dept of Pediatrics Div. of Pediatric Pneumology

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Dept of Pediatrics Div. of Pediatric Pneumology, Allergology and Immunology, RWTH Aachencal Information Technology, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany

4. Klaus Tenbrock Aachen Dept of Pediatrics Div. of Pediatric Pneumology

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Dept of Pediatrics Div. of Pediatric Pneumology, Allergology and Immunology, RWTH Aachencal Information Technology, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany

5. Steffen K. Leonhardt Aachen Medical Information Technology (MedIT)

   RWTH Aachen University

   Affiliation as printed

   Medical Information Technology, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany