Modernization of gas discharge visualization for application in medical diagnostics

Abstract

The object of research is the processes of the emergence and glow of a discharge around biological structures in a pulsed electric field. Such processes have found use in the method of gas discharge visualization. In medical diagnostics, the general state of human health is assessed by the characteristics of gas-discharge images of fingers. One of the most problematic areas of the correctness of medical diagnostics is the dependence of the visual components of the image on the electrical characteristics of the discharge and the physical and chemical characteristics of the surrounding environment. In the course of the study, methods of modeling the electric discharge current circuit and electrical properties of biostructures were used. The proposed solution allows taking into account: the amplitude of the impulse voltage of the discharge, the frequency of the impulses, the duration and intensity of the impulses, the polarity, which act as additional diagnostic parameters of the gas-discharge visualization process. Physical processes are considered, and a model of a chain of gas discharge around a biological object in a pulsed electric field is proposed. It is shown that the occurrence of a discharge and the characteristics of the glow depend on the amplitude, duration, frequency, and polarity of the pulse voltage. These additional parameters determine the correctness of further visual diagnostics. Their quantitative measurement and the possibility of objective comparison should be attributed to the advantages of registering the proposed parameters of gas discharge visualization. The specified properties of these parameters provide an additional opportunity to digitally describe the condition of the object under study, and subsequently to automate diagnostics. The structural diagrams of the device for conducting research using the method of gas discharge visualization, the high-voltage impulse voltage generator unit for the hardware consideration of additional gas discharge parameters and their connection with medical and biological indicators have been developed. The use of the method and means of gas discharge visualization to assess the functional state of the flight crew in the pre- and post-flight period requires the development of special equipment. The proposed technical solutions require experimental verification. Comparative studies of diagnostic conclusions by the method of gas-discharge visualization with traditional medical diagnostics are necessary.