Bioimpedance spectroscopy for clinical assessment of tissues and the irradiated cancer tumors

Abstract

Cancer cells exhibit altered local dielectric properties compared to normal cells because of the difference in shape, size and orientation. These properties are measurable as a difference in electrical conductance using electrical impedance spectroscopy. Electrical impedance is one of the most often used parameters for characterizing material properties, especially in biomedical applications. Electrical impedance spectroscopy used for revealing both resistive and capacitive characteristics, is good for use in tissue characterization. In this study, the electrical impedance spectroscopy system is used to assess subjects with healthy knee and with osteoarthritis knee and tissues following irradiation. From the experimental results, it is clear that the electrical properties, based on curve analysis, demonstrated good detection performance. The electrical parameters of the tissues could be used to distinguish the tissue's status. Changes in electrical properties at different frequency rate reveal that there exist differences between conductivity of non-irradiated and irradiated tissues.