3D Printed Chest Models with Realistic Shape and Electrical Property for Electrical Impedance Tomography

Electrical impedance tomography (FIT) is becoming a popular medical technology, including lung monitoring. Before instrumentation and reconstruction methods being applied clinically, experiments need to be carried out on models. However, existing models are usually with discontinuous structure and conductivity, which makes it difficult for researchers to replicate. A method for constructing chest model was proposed based on fused deposition modeling which is a typical 3D printing technology. Conductivity was controlled through a mixture of two kinds of materials polylactic acid (PLA) and PLA with carbon black (PLA/CB) under different proportions. Referring to an adult chest structure and conductivities of body tissues, a chest model was printed and tested in EIT measurement. Compared to the simulated results, the model can be used in HT effectively. This paper provides a feasible method of chest model construction with more accurate electrical properties and shapes. This model was tested in absolute reconstruction. The results validated the effectiveness of this method. This kind of chest model with electrical properties provides a more realistic environment for testing new EIT software or hardware.