A method for removing artefacts from continuous EEG recordings during functional electrical impedance tomography for the detection of epileptic seizures

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a portable, non-invasive medical imaging method, which could be employed to image the seizure onset in subjects undergoing assessment prior to epilepsy surgery. Each image is obtained from impedance measurements conducted with imperceptible current at tens of kHz. For concurrent imaging with video electroencephalogram (EEG), the EIT introduces a substantial artefact into the EEG due to current switching at frequencies in the EEG band. We present here a method for its removal, so that EIT and the EEG could be acquired simultaneously. A low-pass analogue filter for EEG channels (-6 dB at 48 Hz) and a high-pass filter (-3 dB at 72 Hz) for EIT channels reduced the artefact from 2-3 mV to 50-300 microV, but still left a periodic artefact at about 3 Hz. This was reduced to less than 10 microV with a software filter, which subtracted an artefact template from the EEG raw traces. The EEG was made clinically acceptable at four times its acquisition speed. This method could enable EIT to become a technique for imaging on telemetry units alongside EEG, without interfering with routine EEG reporting.