Bioimpedance as a Signature for Characterizing Human Ventricular Myocardium

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) continue to be a significant global burden in their prevalence and impact on public health. An experimental system incorporating a microchip with interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) and a microheater is developed for quantifying the electrical properties of the myocardial tissues excised from the healthy controls (cadaver bodies), rheumatic heart disease (RHD), and myxomatous valve disease (MVD) patients. Measuring bioimpedance at 25°C and 37°C can distinguish normal from fibrotic heart tissues. The impedance of normal tissue was significantly lower than fibrotic myocardial tissue
$\mathrm{p} < =1.4\mathrm{e}-3$
(at 25°C) and
$\mathrm{p} < =1\mathrm{e}-4$
(at 37°C)). Based on these initial findings, we envisage measuring bioimpedance using a microchip on a larger cohort to distinguish normal from fibrotic myocardial tissues.