Alexander Hartov

Research Interests

Biomedical engineering; medical imaging; electrical impedance tomography; image-guided surgery; cryosurgery; ultrasound; multi-modality imaging

Education

BSEE Electrical Engineering, Northeastern University 1984
MS Engineering Sciences, Dartmouth College 1988
PhD Engineering Sciences, Dartmouth College 1991

Research Projects

Image-guided neurosurgery

Image-guided neurosurgery

Image-guided neurosurgery gives the surgeon the ability to track instruments in reference to subsurface anatomical structures. Using clinical brain displacement data, a computational technique is being developed to model the brain deformation that typically occurs during neurosurgery. The resulting deformation predictions are then used to update the patient's preoperative magnetic resonance images seen by the surgeon during the procedure.
Fluorescence-guided surgery

Fluorescence-guided surgery

Fluorescence-guided surgery is important for the resection of some types of cancerous tumors where the tumor and normal tissue are similar in appearance and texture, and patient prognosis depends heavily on the completeness of resection. By selectively tagging tumor tissue with fluorescent dyes, it becomes possible to visually discriminate between normal and tumor tissues and improve significantly the completeness of tumor resection.
Combined ultrasound and electrical impedance tomography (EIT)

Combined ultrasound and electrical impedance tomography (EIT)

Combined ultrasound and electrical impedance tomography (EIT) puts 3-D ultrasound imaging together with EIT data in a co-registered volume. EIT relies on the mathematical processing of impedance data collected non-invasively from patients to reconstruct the 3-D distribution of the electrical properties of the tissues inside the patient. Combining ultrasound and EIT has the potential to greatly improve the quality and spatial resolution of the reconstructed electrical properties.
Electrical impedance imaging for prostate cancer screening

Electrical impedance imaging for prostate cancer screening

Electrical impedance imaging for prostate cancer screening is the process of imaging non-invasively the electrical properties (conductivity and permittivity) of the prostate and its vicinity using electrodes mounted onto an intracavitary probe.
Electrical impedance imaging for breast cancer screening

Electrical impedance imaging for breast cancer screening

Electrical impedance imaging for breast cancer screening is the process of imaging the electrical property (conductivity and permitivity) of tissue using electrodes located on the body surface. This project is one branch of the larger effort to develop innovative technologies for breast cancer detection.