Microwave Breast Imaging: Clinical Advances and Remaining Challenges

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Imaging
• Radiology

Background:

• Microwave breast imaging has advanced significantly, with four new systems used clinically since 2016.
• Understanding dielectric properties of breast tissues is crucial for effective microwave imaging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent clinical advances in microwave breast imaging.
• To compare patient populations, study outcomes, and system designs of operational microwave imaging systems.
• To identify desirable system design features for clinical use.

Main Methods:

• Review of current understanding of dielectric properties of human breast tissues.
• Detailed comparison of design features, advantages, and disadvantages of operational microwave imaging systems.
• Analysis and comparison of reported results and clinical experiences from patient imaging trials.

Main Results:

• Evidence indicates a dielectric contrast between healthy and cancerous breast tissues.
• Comparison of patient populations and study outcomes from four recent microwave imaging systems.
• Detailed comparison of the designs of operational microwave imaging systems.

Conclusions:

• Microwave breast imaging shows increasing evidence of detecting dielectric property contrasts between healthy and cancerous tissues.
• Despite encouraging results, variations in microwave imaging system design persist.
• Defining the state of the art and suitable design characteristics is essential for clinical adoption.