Early Detection of Cancerous Tissues in Human Breast utilizing Near field Microwave Holography

TL;DR

This study explores near field microwave holography with directive antennas to detect malignant breast tissues in phantoms, showing potential for a cost-effective, non-invasive cancer detection method capable of identifying small tumors at shallow depths.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of near field indirect microwave holography with directive antennas for breast cancer detection, demonstrating effective localization of tumors in phantom models.

Findings

Able to locate tumors as small as 4mm

Detects tumors up to 25mm deep

Shows potential for developing economical breast cancer detection tools

Abstract

This work demonstrates an application of near field indirect microwave holography for the detection of malignant tissues in the human breast in an effective way. The holograms are recorded by two directive antennas aligned along each other's boresight while performing a raster scan over a 2D plane utilizing XY-linear motorized translation stage and a uniform reference wave. The whole information i.e. amplitude and phase of an object has been provided by indirect holography at microwave frequencies. The extracted phase values are used to determine the dielectric permittivity values which are further utilized for the identification and validating the positions of malignant tissues in the breast phantom. The experimental evaluations performed on the in-house designed and developed tissue mimicking 3D printed breast phantoms. The experimental results demonstrate the ability of microwave holography using directive antennas in locating and identifying the tumors up to the minimum size of 4mm and a maximum depth of 25mm in fabricated phantom. The preliminary results present the potential of the Near Field Indirect Holographic Imaging (NFIHI) in order to develop an efficient and economical tool for breast cancer detection.