High-Contrast, Low-Cost, 3-D Visualization of Skin Cancer Using Ultra-High-Resolution Millimeter-Wave Imaging

The goal of this paper is to develop a new skin imaging modality which addresses the current clinical need for a non-invasive imaging tool that images the skin over its depth with high resolutions while offering large histopathological-like contrasts between malignant and normal tissues. We demonstrate that by taking advantage of the intrinsic millimeter-wave dielectric contrasts between normal and malignant skin tissues, ultra-high-resolution millimeter-wave imaging (MMWI) can achieve 3-D, high-contrast images of the skin. In this paper, an imaging system with a record-wide bandwidth of 98 GHz is developed using the synthetic ultra-wideband millimeter-wave imaging approach, a new ultra-high-resolution imaging technique recently developed by the authors. The 21 non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) specimens are imaged and compared with histopathology for evaluation. A programmable measurement platform is designed to automatically scan the tissues across a rectangular aperture plane. Furthermore, a novel frequency-domain imaging algorithm is developed to process the recorded signals and generate an image of the cancerous tissue. The high correlations achieved between MMWI images and histological images allow for rapid and accurate delineation of NMSC tissues. The millimeter-wave reflectivity values are also found to be statistically significant higher for cancerous areas with respect to normal areas. Since MMWI does not require tissue processing or staining, it can be performed promptly, enabling diagnosis of tumors at an early stage as well as simplify the tumor removal surgery to a single-layer excision procedure.