Electromagnetic Tomography for Brain Imaging and Stroke Diagnostics: Progress Towards Clinical Application

ElectroMagnetic Tomography (EMT) is an emerging biomedical imaging modality with great potential for non-invasive assessment of acute and chronic functional and pathological conditions of brain tissue. The mission of EMTensor GmbH is to bring this innovative technology into practical diagnostics of brain, including detection of stroke and traumatic brain injuries, followed by 24/7 monitoring of functional viability of tissue and an assessment of efficacy of treatment. The goal is to create a unique infrastructure based on compact-sized devices, information processing systems and services, which will lead to a breakthrough in brain diagnostics. The idea is to shift the paradigm from a reactive approach, where treatment follows a delayed diagnosis, to a proactive and preventive approach, where early diagnosis leads to successive treatment. The topics of this chapter include a brief introduction of the imaging procedures used at EMTensor GmbH. Furthermore, recent improvements of our image reconstruction algorithms will be discussed briefly, followed by a virtual study to explore the spectrum of potential applications of EMT technology for brain diagnostics. In a next step, the EMTensor BRain IMaging scanner Generation 1 (BRIM G1) will be described. In particular, attention will be given to the imaging results obtained with this scanner in clinical trials. Finally, recent improvements on imaging hardware and chamber topology will be discussed, which have been considered in our second generation brain imaging scanner (BRIM G2).