Electrical impedance tomography for imaging tissue electroporation

Abstract—Electroporation is a method to introduce molecules, such as gene constructs or small drugs, into cells by temporarily permeating the cell membrane with electric pulses. In molecular medicine and biotechnology, tissue electroporation is performed with electrodes placed in the target area of the body. Currently, tissue electroporation, as with all other methods of molecular medicine, is performed without real-time control or near-term information regarding the extent and degree of electroporation. This paper expands the work from our previous study by im-plementing new ex vivo experimental data with “front-tracking” analysis for the image reconstruction algorithm. The experimental data is incorporated into numerical simulations of electroporation procedures and images are generated using the new reconstruction algorithm to demonstrate that electrical impedance tomography (EIT) can produce an image of the electroporated area. Com-bining EIT with electroporation could become an important biotechnological and medical technique to introduce therapeutic molecules into cells in tissue at predetermined areas of the body. Index Terms—Bioimpedance tomography, electrochemo-therapy, electrogenetherapy, electropermeabilization, medical imaging. I