A large-scale clinical trial of radar-based microwave breast imaging for Asian women: Phase I

Abstract

We have developed a radar-based microwave breast imaging system for clinical use. The system consists of a multi-static virtual array with two ultra-wideband horn antennas controlled by mechanical rotation. A conformal breast image is reconstructed by applying the weighted delay-and-sum algorithm. As the Phase I of our aimed clinical trial, we have carried out multiple tests for 11 women aged from 22 to 47 without any carcinoma. However, six of them have developed different levels of mammary hyperplasia. The clinical results have confirmed that women younger than 30 years old with denser breast tissues contribute much stronger scattered energy than older women for the Asian group. Furthermore, women with mammary hyperplasia can be screened successfully using the developed imaging prototype. The Phase I test results pave the way for the first large-scale clinical trial towards Asian women to be carried out in Shenzhen, China this year.