Experimental feasibility study of contrast agent enhanced UWB breast imaging by means of M-sequence sensor systems

UWB microwave imaging has been investigated as an alternative approach for early-stage breast cancer detection. In this paper we present preliminary experimental results towards contrast agent enhanced imaging in order to overcome the problem of the low dielectric contrast between healthy and tumorous tissue. The measurements were done based on M-sequence UWB radar devices and oil-gelatin breast phantoms. Our results confirm the outcome of recently published numerical studies, claiming to detect contrast agent accumulations of clinical applicable doses by electromagnetic sensing.

[1]  J. Sachs,et al.  On the Range Precision of UWB Radar Sensors , 2010, 11-th INTERNATIONAL RADAR SYMPOSIUM.

[2]  M. Lindstrom,et al.  A large-scale study of the ultrawideband microwave dielectric properties of normal, benign and malignant breast tissues obtained from cancer surgeries , 2007, Physics in medicine and biology.

[3]  F. Thiel,et al.  Contrast agent based tumour detection by ultra-wideband radar: A model approach , 2010, Proceedings of the Fourth European Conference on Antennas and Propagation.

[4]  Marko Helbig,et al.  Design and Test of an Imaging System for UWB Breast Cancer Detection , 2012 .

[5]  R. Benjamin,et al.  Towards contrast enhanced breast imaging using ultra-wideband microwave radar system , 2010, 2010 IEEE Radio and Wireless Symposium (RWS).

[6]  E. Madsen,et al.  Tissue-mimicking phantom materials for narrowband and ultrawideband microwave applications , 2005, Physics in medicine and biology.

[7]  Jürgen Sachs,et al.  Handbook of Ultra-Wideband Short-Range Sensing: Theory, Sensors, Applications , 2012 .

[8]  Jeremie Bourqui,et al.  A Prototype System for Measuring Microwave Frequency Reflections from the Breast , 2012, Int. J. Biomed. Imaging.

[9]  J. Sachs,et al.  Design and application of dielectrically scaled double-ridged horn antennas for biomedical UWB radar applications , 2009, 2009 IEEE International Conference on Ultra-Wideband.

[10]  D. R. Gibbins,et al.  Clinical trials of a UWB imaging radar for breast cancer , 2010, Proceedings of the Fourth European Conference on Antennas and Propagation.