The Use of Virtual Tissue Constructs That Include Morphological Variability to Assess the Potential of Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy to Differentiate between Thyroid and Parathyroid Tissues during Surgery

Matella, Malwina, Hunter, Keith ORCID: 0000-0002-7873-0877, Balasubramanian, Saba and Walker, Dawn (2024) The Use of Virtual Tissue Constructs That Include Morphological Variability to Assess the Potential of Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy to Differentiate between Thyroid and Parathyroid Tissues during Surgery. Sensors, 24 (7). p. 2198.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/s24072198

Abstract

<jats:p>Electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) has been proposed as a promising noninvasive method to differentiate healthy thyroid from parathyroid tissues during thyroidectomy. However, previously reported similarities in the in vivo measured spectra of these tissues during a pilot study suggest that this separation may not be straightforward. We utilise computational modelling as a method to elucidate the distinguishing characteristics in the EIS signal and explore the features of the tissue that contribute to the observed electrical behaviour. Firstly, multiscale finite element models (or ‘virtual tissue constructs’) of thyroid and parathyroid tissues were developed and verified against in vivo tissue measurements. A global sensitivity analysis was performed to investigate the impact of physiological micro-, meso- and macroscale tissue morphological features of both tissue types on the computed macroscale EIS spectra and explore the separability of the two tissue types. Our results suggest that the presence of a surface fascia layer could obstruct tissue differentiation, but an analysis of the separability of simulated spectra without the surface fascia layer suggests that differentiation of the two tissue types should be possible if this layer is completely removed by the surgeon. Comprehensive in vivo measurements are required to fully determine the potential for EIS as a method in distinguishing between thyroid and parathyroid tissues.</jats:p>

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Thyroid Gland, Pilot Projects, Electricity, Computer Simulation, Dielectric Spectroscopy
Divisions:	Faculty of Health and Life Sciences Faculty of Health and Life Sciences > Institute of Systems, Molecular and Integrative Biology
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	08 Apr 2024 08:29
Last Modified:	19 Apr 2024 17:28
DOI:	10.3390/s24072198
Open Access URL:	https://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/24/7/2198
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3180134