Preliminary imaging results and SAR analysis of a microwave imaging system for early breast cancer detection

Abstract

Currently X-ray-based imaging systems suffer from low contrast between malignant and healthy fibrous tissues in breast. Microwave Near-field Radar Imaging (NRI) shows a higher contrast between the aforementioned tissues and therefore can enhance tumor detection and diagnosis accuracy. In this work, we present the first imaging results of our developed NRI system that is equipped with a pair of Antipodal Vivaldi Antennas. We used a metal bearing ball immersed in oil as our object of interest, to keep the first measurement configuration simple. Moreover, to demonstrate the safety of our system for human subject tests, we simulated the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) in a realistic breast tissue model and compared the resulted values with both the USA and Europe standards. The results show that firstly the imaging results from the measurements and simulations are comparable, and secondly the antennas radiations meet the SAR criteria.