Extracting Dielectric Properties for MRI-based Phantoms for Axillary Microwave Imaging Device

Abstract

Microwave Imaging (MWI) is an emerging medical imaging technique, which has been studied to aid breast cancer diagnosis in the frequency range from 0.5 to 30 GHz. The information about the dielectric properties of each tissue is essential to assess the viability of this type of systems. However, accurate measurements of heterogeneous tissues can be very challenging, and the current available information is still very limited. In this paper, we present a methodology for extracting dielectric properties to create anatomical models of the axillary region. These models will be used in a MWI device to aid breast cancer diagnosis through the detection of metastasised axillary lymph nodes. We apply segmentation tools to Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI) of the breast and assign dielectric properties to each tissue, extracting preliminary information about the properties of axillary lymph nodes. This study may open a way to more quickly extract dielectric properties of tissues and/or validate measurements, accelerating the development of microwave-based medical devices.