Title:Outpatient Use of Electrical Impedance Tomography in Patients with
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Scoping Review
Volume: 18
Issue: 3
Author(s): Diana Quintero Medina, Vicente Benavides-Cordoba*Esther Cecilia Wilches Luna
Affiliation:
- Universidad del Valle Grupo de Investigación Ejercicio y Salud Cardiopulmonar (GIESC), Cali, Colombia
- Universidad del Valle, Facultad de Salud, Escuela de Rehabilitación Humana, Especialización en Fisioterapia Cardiopulmonar, Cali, Colombia
- Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Cali, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Cali, Colombia
Keywords:
Pulmonary disease, chronic obstructive, tomography, electric impedance, diagnostic imaging, post-bronchodilator obstruction.
Abstract:
Objective: Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) has emerged as a non-invasive, radiation-
free imaging modality that allows monitoring at the patient's bedside, providing real-time information
on the regional distribution of pulmonary ventilation. Although there has been increasing
research on EIT in Intensive Care Units (ICUs), few studies use this tool in patients with spontaneous
breathing. The objective is to describe the current evidence regarding the outpatient use of EIT
in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Methods: A scoping review was performed. An extensive search was conducted in seven healthbased
databases, Scopus, Medline, OVID, Scielo, PEDro, EBSCO, and VHL search portal. In this
scoping review, the checklist recommended by PRISMA was used. To assess the quality of the
studies, the BEME protocol of "questions to ask about the evidence of an investigation or evaluation"
was used.
Results: In this scoping review, 7 studies published between 2009 and 2019 related to the outpatient
use of EIT in COPD patients were identified. The evidence reviewed allowed us to identify that the
frequent use is related to the evaluation of the distribution of ventilation, the evaluation of regional
respiratory mechanics, and the degree of pre- and post-bronchodilator obstruction.
Conclusion: EIT is used on an outpatient basis in patients with COPD as an evaluation tool that
complements the information regarding the clinical results of pulmonary function tests, improving the
monitoring of the course of the disease in real-time, non-invasively, and without ionizing radiation.