Microwave Breast Imaging System Prototype with Integrated Numerical Characterization

Abstract

<jats:p>The increasing number of experimental microwave breast imaging systems and the need to properly model them have motivated our development of an integrated numerical characterization technique. We use Ansoft HFSS and a formalism we developed previously to numerically characterize an<jats:italic>S</jats:italic>-parameter- based breast imaging system and link it to an inverse scattering algorithm. We show successful reconstructions of simple test objects using synthetic and experimental data. We demonstrate the sensitivity of image reconstructions to knowledge of the background dielectric properties and show the limits of the current model.</jats:p>

Design of a compact antenna with flared groundplane for a wearable breast hyperthermia system

“…To minimise computational resources and for clarity of the results, a hemispheric twolayer numerical breast phantom was used. The breast phantom had an outer diameter of 90 mm and comprised a 2-mm thick skin layer encompassing fibroglandular tissue [40]. The chest wall, modelled as a 140 mm  140 mm layer of 15-mm thick fat adjacent to 5-mm thick muscle (with the same thermal properties as fibroglandular tissue as in [41] and dielectric properties as in [42]), terminated the top wall of the breast phantom, as shown in Figure 1.…”

“…For thermal models, the following thermal parameters were employed to characterise the treatment zone when considering a nominal input power of 15 W: maximum tissue temperature, distance from the skin to the treatment volume d 41 , width of the treatment volume in the plane yz w 41_yz , width of the treatment volume in the plane xz w 41_xz , and length of the treatment volume l 41 , as shown in Figure 3. Additionally, extents of the treatment volume were also quantified with input power adjusted to achieve a maximum tissue temperature of 46 C. To characterise the robustness of the proposed antenna, ± 50% variation in blood perfusion within the glandular tissue [39][40][41][42][43][44][45] were evaluated.…”

Design and implementation of microwave imaging systems for medical applications

“…Figure 2.10 shows the experiment set-up of the imaging system with the heterogeneous breast phantom [32]. Figure 2.10: Experimental set-up of the circular UWBmicrowave imaging system [32] In 2012, Haynes et al [33] built a prototype microwave imaging system incorporating an integrated numerical characterisation technique for breast examination. The imaging system consists of an imaging cavity formed from 12 panels soldered together.…”

“…For the experimental set-up in [33], the imaging cavity was connected to the VNA through a solid-state switching matrix. In order to obtain a multiple transmitter viewer, the rotators were mounted and turned the suspended objects.…”

“…Overall, the imaging algorithm, numerical characterisation and experiment worked with some success, and the researchers concluded that there were several promising areas for continued investigation [33]. shows the simulation set-up of the system.…”