Linearly constrained minimum variance spatial filtering for localization of conductivity changes in electrical impedance tomography.

We localize dynamic electrical conductivity changes and reconstruct their time evolution introducing the spatial filtering technique to electrical impedance tomography (EIT). More precisely, we use the unit-noise-gain constrained variation of the distortionless-response linearly constrained minimum variance spatial filter. We address the effects of interference and the use of zero gain constraints. The approach is successfully tested in simulated and real tank phantoms. We compute the position error and resolution to compare the localization performance of the proposed method with the one-step Gauss-Newton reconstruction with Laplacian prior. We also study the effects of sensor position errors. Our results show that EIT spatial filtering is useful for localizing conductivity changes of relatively small size and for estimating their time-courses. Some potential dynamic EIT applications such as acute ischemic stroke detection and neuronal activity localization may benefit from the higher resolution of spatial filters as compared to conventional tomographic reconstruction algorithms.

General bounds for electrode mislocation on the EEG inverse problem.

We analyze the effect of electrode mislocation on the electroencephalography (EEG) inverse problem using the Cramér-Rao bound (CRB) for single dipolar source parameters. We adopt a realistic head shape model, and solve the forward problem using the Boundary Element Method; the use of the CRB allows us to obtain general results which do not depend on the algorithm used for solving the inverse problem. We consider two possible causes for the electrode mislocation, errors in the measurement of the electrode positions and an imperfect registration between the electrodes and the scalp surfaces. For 120 electrodes placed in the scalp according to the 10-20 standard, and errors on the electrode location with a standard deviation of 5mm, the lower bound on the standard deviation in the source depth estimation is approximately 1mm in the worst case. Therefore, we conclude that errors in the electrode location may be tolerated since their effect on the EEG inverse problem are negligible from a practical point of view.

EEG/MEG error bounds for a dynamic dipole source with a realistic head model.

This work presents the background and derivation of Cramér-Rao bounds on the errors of estimating the parameters (moment and location) of a dynamic current dipole source using data from electro- and magneto-encephalography. A realistic head model, based on knowledge of surfaces separating tissues of different conductivities, is used.