The primary objective of this research was to investigate the feasibility of calibrating ultrasound scanners to measure surface impedance from reflection data. The method proposed uses calibration curves from known impedance interfaces. This plot, or calibration curve, may then be used, with interpolation, to relate measured grey level to impedance for the characterization of tissue specimens with unknown properties. This approach can be used independent of different medical ultrasound scanner systems to solve for reproducible tissue impedance values without offline data processing and complicated custom electronics. <p>Two medical ultrasound machines from different manufacturers were used in the experiment; a 30 MHz and a 7.5 MHz machine. The calibration curves for each machine were produced by imaging the interfaces of a vegetable oil floating over varying salt solutions. <p>To test the method, porcine liver, kidney, and spleen acoustical impedances were determined by relating measured grey levels to reflection coefficients using calibration curves and then inverting the reflection coefficients to obtain impedance values. The 30 MHz ultrasound machines calculated tissue impedances for liver, kidney, and spleen were 1.476 ± 0.020, 1.486 ± 0.020, 1.471 ± 0.020 MRayles respectively. The 7.5 MHz machines tissue impedances were 1.467 ± 0.088, 1.507 ± 0.088, and 1.457 ± 0.088 MRayles respectively for liver, kidney and spleen. The differences between the two machines are 0.61%, 1.41%, and 0.95% for the impedance of liver, kidney, and spleen tissue, respectively. If the grey level is solely used to characterize the tissue, then the differences are 45.9%, 40.3%, and 39.1% for liver, kidney, and spleen between the two machines. The results support the hypothesis that tissue impedance can be determined using calibration curves and be consistent between multiple machines.

The primary objective of this research was to investigate the feasibility of calibrating ultrasound scanners to measure surface impedance from reflection data. The method proposed uses calibration curves from known impedance interfaces. This plot, or calibration curve, may then be used, with interpolation, to relate measured grey level to impedance for the characterization of tissue specimens with unknown properties. This approach can be used independent of different medical ultrasound scanner systems to solve for reproducible tissue impedance values without offline data processing and complicated custom electronics. <p>Two medical ultrasound machines from different manufacturers were used in the experiment; a 30 MHz and a 7.5 MHz machine. The calibration curves for each machine were produced by imaging the interfaces of a vegetable oil floating over varying salt solutions. <p>To test the method, porcine liver, kidney, and spleen acoustical impedances were determined by relating measured grey levels to reflection coefficients using calibration curves and then inverting the reflection coefficients to obtain impedance values. The 30 MHz ultrasound machines calculated tissue impedances for liver, kidney, and spleen were 1.476 ± 0.020, 1.486 ± 0.020, 1.471 ± 0.020 MRayles respectively. The 7.5 MHz machines tissue impedances were 1.467 ± 0.088, 1.507 ± 0.088, and 1.457 ± 0.088 MRayles respectively for liver, kidney and spleen. The differences between the two machines are 0.61%, 1.41%, and 0.95% for the impedance of liver, kidney, and spleen tissue, respectively. If the grey level is solely used to characterize the tissue, then the differences are 45.9%, 40.3%, and 39.1% for liver, kidney, and spleen between the two machines. The results support the hypothesis that tissue impedance can be determined using calibration curves and be consistent between multiple machines.

<p dir="ltr">Sinusoidal low frequency alternating current (LFAC) stimulation is a novel mode of electrical modulation observed in the Bioelectroics Lab in 2017. LFAC is capable of blocking the single fiber action potentials (APs) of the earthworm with only a few 100's of µA. The goal of this dissertation was to further explore and characterize the LFAC waveform to determine it's feasibility as a method for block in the mammalian peripheral nervous system (PNS). To better understand the mechanisms of LFAC block (LFACb), a blend of \textit{in-silico} modeling work was explored and the predictions were validated with <i>ex-vivo</i> and <i>in-vivo</i> experiments. </p><p dir="ltr"> This dissertation is divided into five chapters. The first chapter will explore the history of bioelectricity, the current state of <i>in-silico</i> modeling and methods of nerve block used in the PNS. The second chapter explores a major modeling assumption, the conductivity and permittivity of the nerve laminae of a mammalian nerve bundle. Four point electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was performed on excised canine vagus nerve to evaluate the electrical properties of the perineurium and epineurium. This study's result, found that the corner frequency of the perineurium (2.6kHz) and epineurium (370Hz) were much lower than previously assumed. This explain a major difference between LFACb and the more established kilohertz frequency alternating current (kHFAC) block. The third chapter revisits the initial earthworm experiments during the discovery of LFACb. The effect of conduction slowing was observed in these earthworm experiments and were also seen in a mammalian canine vagus nerve and in the Horn-Yoshida-Schild (HYS) autonomic unmyelinated axon mode. These experiments showed that LFACb occurs as a cathodic block in which the sodium channels are held inactive. Chapter 4 explored the window between LFACb and LFAC activation (LFACa). The window between the two states was describes by LFAC amplitude and LFAC frequency in an <i>in-vivo</i> rat sciatic nerve and an <i>in-silico</i> model of a myelinated motor neuron, the McIntyre-Richardson-Grill (MRG) axon model. Geometrical effects were also observed by varying the bipolar pair of contacts used to deliver the LFACb waveform from an asymmetrical tripolar cuff electrode. Plantar flexor force measurements and electromyography (EMG) of the lateral gastrocnemius (LG) and soleus (Sol) were used to quantify the effects of the LFAC waveform. Convergence between <i>in-silico</i> modeling and <i>in-vivo</i> results showed promise that modeling efforts could be used with confidence to explore the LFAC block-activation more completly. LFACa was found to be highly dependent on frequency with increasing frequency lowering the threshold of activation. LFACb was shown to be mostly invariant to frequency. The final chapter takes the information found in this dissertation and summarizes it. Future work on LFAC is also proposed and the hypothesized results presented with the findings from this dissertation and available literature. </p>

The pressure ulcer is a well-known clinical problem that has plagued many patients in acute-care hospitals and chronic-care facilities. The pressure ulcer has the potential to diminish the quality of a patient's life by hindering the person's physical and emotional well-being. In addition, pressure ulcers are a high-cost problem. Past studies have shown that costs related to the treatment of pressure ulcers have reached 1.335 billion dollars a year in the United States alone. A pressure ulcer is defined as a lesion created by unrelieved pressure, which causes tissue ischemia and subsequently damages the underlying tissue. This sequence of events is mainly centered on ischemia. Ischemia is a condition created by an insufficient flow of blood to an organ or part of an organ such as the skin. The outcome of ischemia is cell death at the tissue level, which is commonly termed necrosis. In the past, researchers employed several different non-invasive techniques in order to detect changes in the condition of human skin when blood flow was restricted. The two most commonly used practices were Laser Doppler Velocimetry and Continuous Wave Ultrasound. Laser Doppler Velocimeter is used to measure cutaneous blood flow in a study region. The moving red blood cells in blood vessels cause a Doppler shift of incident laser light, which correlates with the velocity of blood flow. Continuous Wave Ultrasound involves an ultrasound signal, which is transmitted into the skin. The change in frequency of the reflected signal with respect to the transmitted signal provides an indication of blow flow. The objective of this research was to examine a method for the detection of arterial blood flow, which utilized the 4-electrode sensor for the measurement of Tissue Impedance or the Bio-impedance method. The system developed, for the synchronous detection method, consisted of both analog hardware and software tools. The analog hardware utilized synchronous detection. The software monitored and performed mathematical operations on the retrieved data. The system developed during this research demonstrated the ability to measure the pulsatile impedance of the skin and present the results in a fashion useful to healthcare providers.

Impedance spectroscopy (IS) is a powerful and sophisticated tool to characterize intrinsic electrical properties of any materials and its interface, measuring the electric and transport properties of the materials, investigating the mechanism of electrochemical reaction etc. The fundamental principle of IS is the measurement of the impedance (equivalent to resistance in DC analysis) of the system under investigation over a wide frequency range. The IS study provides quantitative information about the conductance, the dielectric coefficient, the static properties of the interfaces like contact resistance, and its dynamic change due to adsorption or charge transfer phenomenon. Commercial Impedance analyzers that are available today are bulky and cannot be carried or deployed at remote locations for monitoring so easily, also such systems are expensive. Though IS concept is not new, standard Impedance analyzers are interfaced to the computer and require detailed analysis of the data by experts. Advancement in data conversion and signal processing is opening up opportunities for handheld smart devices. Hence it is felt that there is a need to develop a versatile low cost, portable (handheld) impedance analyzer instrument which can be used to characterize non linear materials like semiconductors, biological objects, and electrochemical samples. The instrument should be capable accepting test parameters using a touch screen based keypad and display test results on a Graphical LCD for quick analysis. Hence a standalone handheld instrument is designed to work independently without any PC control. The designed instrument consists of Digital Direct Synthesis (DDS) signal generator, a constant current source, Analog to digital convertor, Microcontroller to control frequency sweep parameters and acquire data, TFT Graphics LCD for displaying various plots, touch screen user interface to input sweep parameters and data storage section for offline analysis of obtained data. The instrument is designed to work on a battery or a regulated power supply. The instrument has options to display Nyquist plot, capacitance versus frequency plot, real and imaginary value of impedance versus frequency plot etc. Experimental investigations are conducted using this instrument on few passive components like resistor, inductor, capacitor and combinations. The instrument is also used to monitor the performance of polyimide based capacitive humidity sensor and its characteristics like sensitivity, linearity, repeatability and hysteresis. The measurement accuracy of the impedance varies from 0.7% to 4.67% depending on the impedance range. Bio impedance measurements are carried out on biological samples like Banana and the measured values are compared with the standard LCR meter. The bio impedance measurements are repeatable and comparable with the standard LCR meter readings and it is found to be within ±1% accuracy at the calibrated frequency. The instrument is also validated using industry standard Gauge R & R procedure to understand the repeatability and reproducibility of the instrument. The instrument exhibited good Repeatability and Reproducibility in current mode excitation than voltage mode excitation and Gauge R & R is 55% with P/T ratio is less than 2.5%.

This master’s thesis is focused on the electrical properties of biological tissues and flesh in particular. Their electrical characteristics depend on the physical and chemical parameters that determine the concentration and mobility of ions in metabolic fluids. From the electrical point of view, flesh can be simply substituted by a field of elongated conductive cells which are separated by the insulating membrane from each other. In the next part, the Fricke model is introduced. The model describes the measurement of impedance of the tissue at low and high frequencies. The aim of the work is to assess how the impedance of the dielectric sample is dependent on the frequency of the electrical signal during the optimal aging or ripening of flesh.

Die transurethrale Resektion der Prostata (TURP) ist eine elektrochirurgische Behandlung der gutartigen Vergrößerung der Prostata. Hierbei treten sehr selten gebrochene Resektionsschlingen auf, deren Ursachen in der Literatur unzureichend dokumentiert sind. In dieser Arbeit erfolgt die Untersuchung der Eignung von Methoden zur Schlingenverschleißanalyse bei der TURP. Es gilt die aktuell offenen Fragen zu klären, wie sich zum Beispiel der Schlingenverschleiß äußert, ob dieser Ursache für gebrochene Schlingen während einer Operation ist und ob er Einfluss auf den Leistungseintrag ins Prostatagewebe und damit auf Ihre Temperaturverteilung hat. Angewandt werden erstmals vier experimentelle Methoden zur Verschleißanalyse in Kombination. Gemessene Geometrieänderungen stehen in Zusammenhang mit einer gemessenen verschleißbedingten Impedanzänderung, welche hier erstmals in‑situ erfolgt. Diese liefert auch Informationen über Defekte im nichtsichtbaren Bereichen der Resektionsschlingen. Es geht auch hervor, dass aufgrund üblicher Nutzungsdauern der Schlingenverschleiß als Ursache für Schlingenbrüche während der Dauer einer Operation mit sehr großer Wahrscheinlichkeit auszuschließen ist. Aufbauend auf den Messergebnissen werden durch Finite Elemente Simulationen Informationen über den Leistungseintrag ins Prostatagewebe gewonnen. Die Auswertung der simulierten räumlichen Temperaturverteilung zeigt keine Vergrößerung von betroffenen Gewebearealen mit verschleißbedingtem Temperaturanstieg.:1 Einleitung 2 Grundlagen und Stand der Forschung 3 Lösungsansatz und Methoden 4 Versuchsumgebungen zur experimentellen Umsetzung 5 Ergebnisse der experimentellen Untersuchungen 6 Numerische Methoden 7 Ergebnisse aus den numerischen Methoden 8 Diskussion 9 Zusammenfassung / The transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) is an electrosurgical treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia. In the literature, broken resection loops are rarely discussed and the reasons for their occurrence are insufficiently documented. The purpose of the present work is to investigate the suitability of methods for loop wear analysis in TURP. The aim is to clarify the currently open questions such as: Does material wear on the loop surface lead to broken resection loops during the surgery procedure? How does material wear influence the power input into the prostate tissue and thus the resulting temperature distribution in the tissue? For the first time, four experimental methods for loop wear analysis are applied in combination. As a result, the experimental investigation show that it was possible to measure a wear-related impedance change in-situ, matching to the wear-related geometry change of the resection loop. Moreover, the measured impedance led to information about loop defects in an invisible part of the resection electrode. For the duration of the surgery procedure, the loop wear can be ruled out as the cause of broken loops with a very high probability. Finite element analyses were used for evaluating the spatial temperature distribution of the prostate tissue. The simulation model based on the measurement results. The simulated spatial temperature distribution does not show any enlargement of affected tissue areas due to wear-induced temperature increase.:1 Einleitung 2 Grundlagen und Stand der Forschung 3 Lösungsansatz und Methoden 4 Versuchsumgebungen zur experimentellen Umsetzung 5 Ergebnisse der experimentellen Untersuchungen 6 Numerische Methoden 7 Ergebnisse aus den numerischen Methoden 8 Diskussion 9 Zusammenfassung