SLS: Quantification of Spatial Error in Electrical Impedance Mapping of Soft Tissues

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most prevalent and fatal cancer in America with an expected 49,700 deaths in the year 2015. Resection remains the most effective treatments of CRC metastases producing 5-year survival rates above 50%. This research investigates the feasibility of implementing an impedance mapping (IM) instrument for the task of identifying tumor interfaces. The electrical properties of ex vivo hepatic tissues containing CRC metastases are characterized from 100 Hz to 1 MHz. The CRC metastases had significantly different conductivities and permittivities than the surrounding hepatic tissue. Porcine-bovine tissue phantoms were used to quantify the performance of an IM device in interface identification in soft tissues. The spatial accuracy and precision of IM using a for electrode linear platinum probe with a 1.5 mm pitch and 5 mm measurement step size was capable of accurately predicting tissue interface locations within a 3 mm range with 95% confidence.