Validation of Electrical Impedance Tomography Qualitative and Quantitative Values and Comparison of the Numeric Pain Distress Score against Mammography

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is a potential supplement for mammogram screening. This studyaimed to evaluate and feasibility of EIT as opposed to mammography and to determine pain perception withboth imaging methods. Women undergoing screening mammography at the Radiology Department of NationalUniversity of Malaysia Medical Centre were randomly selected for EIT imaging. All women were requested togive a pain score after each imaging session. Two independent raters were chosen to define the image findings ofEIT. A total of 164 women in the age range from 40 to 65-year-old participated and were divided into two groups;normal and abnormal. EIT sensitivity and specificity for rater 1 were 69.4% and 63.3, whereas for rater 2 theywere 55.3% and 57.0% respectively. The reliability for each rater ranged between good to very good (p<0.05).Quantitative values of EIT showed there were significant differences in all values between groups (ANCOVA,p<0.05). Interestingly, EIT scored a median pain score of 1.51±0.75 whereas mammography scored 4.15±0.87(Mann Whitney U test, p<0.05). From these quantitative values, EIT has the potential as a health discriminatingindex. Its ability to replace image findings from mammography needs further investigation.