Non-Contact Monitoring of Temporal Volume Changes of a Hematoma in the Head by a Single Inductive Coil: A Numerical Study.

Abstract

This numerical study was designed to evaluate the feasibility of using an inductive coil for monitoring the changes in the volume of a hematoma in the head in situ and to compare the inductive coil performance to that of a spiral antenna based on the radar principle. Numerical analysis was used to solve the complete set of Maxwell's equations in full three-dimensional anatomical model of a head and brain with data on clinical occurrence of hematomas from the clinical literature, for frequencies of 100 MHz, 500 MHz, and 1 GHz. 1) The analysis shows that the spiral radar antenna provides a better resolution when the antenna can be placed exactly facing the center of the volume of blood. Under any other circumstance, the inductive coil has a better resolution at both 500 MHz and 1 GHz. 2) The induction coil is more sensitive to rotation artifacts than the spiral antenna. 3) Single frequency measurements do not provide conclusive results. The inductive coil has the ability to monitor small changes in the volume of a hematoma in the head. However, multifrequency measurements are required for correct diagnostic. This study provides a new, low-cost alternative to the conventional medical imaging for monitoring the hematoma increase.