Emergency electromagnetic tomography solutions for scanning head

A method of using an electromagnetic tomography (EMT) system to generate a data tensor for imaging a human head, compromising:

• (a) in response to an emergency report and request from or on behalf of a possible stroke patient, providing an ambulance equipped with a self-contained electromagnetic tomography (EMT) system for gathering measurement data pertaining to a human head of a human patient such as the possible stroke patient, the self-contained EMT system including:
• (i) a carriage supported on a floor of the ambulance,
• (ii) a horizontal patient support carried by, and attached to, the carriage,
• (iii) an imaging chamber unit, carried by, and attached to, the carriage, having an antenna assembly at least partially defining a horizontally-oriented imaging chamber, the horizontally-oriented imaging chamber being horizontally-oriented while the carriage is upright and resting on the floor of the ambulance rather than when tilted over, and including an array of antennas arranged around the imaging chamber, the array of antennas including at least some transmitting antennas and at least some receiving antennas, and the imaging chamber unit further having a housing, at least partially containing the antenna assembly, having a front entry opening into the imaging chamber, the front entry opening being front-facing while the carriage is upright and resting on the floor of the ambulance rather than when tilted over, and
• (iii) a control cabinet, carried by the carriage, that houses a control system;
• (b) positioning the stroke patient on his back on the horizontal patient support;
• (c) inserting the head of the patient horizontally through the front entry opening of the image chamber unit and into the imaging chamber;
• (d) using the control system:
• (i) causing the transmitting antennas to transmit a low power electromagnetic field that is received by the receiving antennas after passing through the patient's head in the imaging chamber and producing a data tensor from resulting signals,
• (ii) inversing the data tensor to reconstruct a 3D distribution of dielectric properties within the patient's head and thereby to create an image of the patient's head, and
• (iii) creating EMT image results for the patient's head based on the reconstructed 3D distribution of dielectric properties;
• and
• (e) providing the EMT image results to a medical practitioner for use in diagnosing or treating possible stroke in the patient.