title: Measurement of pharyngeal transit time by electrical impedance tomography.
abstract: The feasibility of using electrical impedance tomography (EIT) for measuring pharyngeal transit time has been investigated. Imaging sequences were obtained on the neck in a group of eight healthy subjects when swallowing solutions of different electrical conductivities. The solutions used were aqueous Dioralyte (1.5 S m-1) and tap water (0.04 S m-1). The effects of movement upon the images were large compared with the changes due to the solutions, but these were cancelled by a subtraction technique. The mean value of the EIT pharyngeal transit time parameter was 370 +/- 120 ms. EIT has the advantage that repeated measurements could be performed without fear of hazard in contrast to the established technique of video fluoroscopy which involves ionising
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, UK.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Griffiths
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Wiles
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Nathadwarawala
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Stewart
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003679:Deglutition / Q000502:physiology*; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010614:Pharynx / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D013997:Time Factors; D014054:Tomography / Q000379:methods*