Detection of abnormal skin tissues with impedance mapping approach using EIT techniques

The skin is an organ in the body that is in direct contact with the external environment and is most exposed to harmful external effects. Harmful effects cause abnormal tissue formation that can grow uncontrollably and undesirably on the skin. Early diagnosis and monitoring of these abnormal tissues, which exhibit different electrical properties than healthy skin tissue, are crucial. Electrical Impedance Tomography is one of the methods used for visualizing these abnormal tissues. This thesis presents an electrical impedance-based measurement and imaging system developed for the detection of abnormal tissues formed in the skin. Before experimental studies, the system was simulated on platforms such as COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS and EIDORS. A resistive phantom model representing healthy and abnormal tissue-containing skin models was created for the experimental study. A novel planar electrode array containing 32 electrodes in a circular arrangement was integrated with the electronic measurement system harware. The data obtained from the measurement was used in the image generation stage. It seeks to construct a high-resolution and precise image of the abnormal tissue from the data obtained from the proposed novel electrode design. Compatibility of simulation and experimental study results indicate that the proposed system could detect the location of abnormal tissue on the skin with high accuracy. The proposed system enables non-invasive, comfortable, and low-cost detection of abnormal tissues in the skin using an electrical impedance-based imaging technique.