Study of the Refraction Effects in Microwave Breast Imaging Using a Dry Setup^.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Imaging
• Electromagnetics

Background:

• Medical Microwave Imaging (MWI) is explored for breast cancer diagnosis.
• Current MWI systems often require coupling media to mitigate skin backscattering and refraction.
• Dry setups for MWI are gaining traction, showing promising results.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the significance of incorporating refraction effects into MWI image reconstruction algorithms.
• To determine if simplified models neglecting refraction can yield accurate breast cancer imaging results.

Main Methods:

• A simplified homogeneous spherical breast model was employed.
• Analytical computation of ray propagation through the air-body interface was performed.
• Comparison between direct ray propagation and refracted ray models was conducted.

Main Results:

• The impact of considering refracted rays versus direct ray propagation showed negligible differences.
• This finding holds true for image accuracy in moderately high permittivity media.
• The computational complexity of calculating refracted rays can be avoided for convex shapes.

Conclusions:

• Refraction effects may not significantly impact MWI image accuracy in simplified homogeneous breast models.
• Direct ray propagation can be sufficient, potentially streamlining image reconstruction algorithms.
• This simplification could reduce the computational burden for dry-setup MWI systems, especially for convex breast shapes.