Image enhancement with Gaussian filtering in time‐domain microwave imaging system for breast cancer detection

Abstract

A time-domain microwave imaging system with improved image quality is presented for early detection of breast cancer. The timedomain system has the advantage of short scan time compared with the frequency-domain system but suffers from low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) due to high attenuation of the RF signal within the breast tissue. Signal averaging of repeated measurements can improve the SNR, but this method also smears the signal peaks due to the signal-averaged jitter, which adversely affects the reconstructed image quality. An image enhancement method using Gaussian bandpass filtering (BPF) is proposed for a time-domain imaging system. The results from the proposed method were compared with those from the deconvolution method, which is typically used to remove the effects of signal-averaged timing jitter in short pulse measurements. Simulation results with a 3D hemispherical homogeneous breast model containing tumour cells revealed improvement of the reconstructed image quality with the proposed method in the presence of timing jitter. The signal-to-mean ratio was increased from 6.46 to 14.15 with BPF, whereas deconvolution resulted in an increase to 9.36. Simulation results with a non-homogeneous realistic breast model also showed image enhancement with the proposed method.

Recent Advances in Microwave Imaging for Breast Cancer Detection

“…Several research groups have recently reported time-domain measurement microwave breast imaging systems [29, 31, 37, 139]. Time-domain measurement systems have the advantage of being cost-effective and requiring less scan time.…”

Effectiveness of Existing CAD-Based Research Work towards Screening Breast Cancer

“…A prototype is designed for identification of breast cancer with 1-cm accuracy limit. Kwon et al [27] have adopted time domain for enhancing the radiological image generated by microwave imaging system in order to perform detection of cancer. The technique has used Gaussian band pass filtering using simulation-based approach.…”

A novel approach to jointly address localization and classification of breast cancer using bio-inspired approach

“…Jalilvand et al [28] have used specific design of bowtie antenna in order to perform detection of the breast cancer. The work carried out by Kwon et al [29] have used Gaussian bandpass filtering in order to perform detection of cancer using three dimensional image. Adoption of Stransforms is reported to upgrade the classification process as discussed by Beura et al [30].…”