Microwave Technique for Linear Skull Fracture Detection-Simulation and Experimental Study Using Realistic Human Head...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Electromagnetics
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Microwave (MW) sensing offers advantages for portable medical monitoring and diagnostics.
• Rapid, frequent, and out-of-hospital detection of skull fractures and their healing is needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the efficacy of MW sensing for detecting skull fractures using realistic models.
• To identify optimal frequency ranges (ISM and ultrawideband) for skull fracture detection.

Main Methods:

• Electromagnetic simulations using various head tissue models and an anatomically realistic head model.
• Experimental validation using a human skull and laboratory-developed tissue phantoms.
• Analysis of antenna (S11) and channel (S21) parameters to assess fracture impact.

Main Results:

• Skull fractures create distinct differences in S11 (0.1-20 dB) and S21 (0.1-30 dB) parameters.
• Microwaves can detect fractures narrower than 1 mm, with detectability being frequency-dependent.
• Power flow analysis visualizes the effect of fractures on signal propagation.

Conclusions:

• MW-based detection is a viable method for identifying skull fractures with safe, low-cost portable devices.
• The technique can potentially monitor fracture healing and aid in other MW-based diagnostics like stroke detection.