Detection of biological abnormalities using a near-field microwave microscope

Abstract

Microwave and millimeter-wave reflectometry is one of the potential techniques for the diagnosis and detection of biological abnormalities, such as subcutaneous masses or cancerous tumors in human body. In this paper, a high-quality microwave sensor based on planar misrostrip resonator is designed, fabricated, and successfully tested with different kinds of biological samples. The proposed sensor has unique properties such as small size, simple fabrication, non-contact with a sample, excellent de-coupling from surroundings, and high microwave power is directly coupled into the tissue. Two experiments are performed for the detection of visible and hidden “lipoma” (fat masses), and minimum size of “lipoma” that is diagnosed by the sensor is obtained as well. In this regard, a two-dimensional image of hidden “lipomas” with amplitude contrast about 30 dB and frequency shifts contrast about 60 MHz at aλ/10 (at 13.5 GHz) stand-off distance is provided. Finally, a measurement scenario for the detection of skin cancer based on the artificial model using different layers of raw chicken with different water content is described. Results show that the proposed microscope is easy to fabricate and provide a low-cost solution for fast and accurate skin cancer detection.

A Portable Non-Invasive Electromagnetic Lesion-Optimized Sensing Device for the Diagnosis of Skin Cancer (SkanMD)

“…Traditional EM sensors typically face challenges related to: 1) Low density of EM fields interacting with the SUT due to the fact that the evanescent fields are majorly confined within the substrate material of the sensor instead of being concentrated near the SUT [23], [41]; 2) Significant dependence on the stand-off distance (the distance between the sensor's active region and the SUT) which means that slight variations in this distance are capable of noticeably changing the sensor's response; 3) Large sensors or impractical circuitry due to extremely high cost and difficult mobility. The proposed sensor addresses these challenges simultaneously.…”

“…Notably, the biopsy procedure remains discomforting, scarring, and may result in complications for the patient [6]- [12]. Due to the inconvenient, subjective, invasive, and time-consuming nature of skin cancer diagnosis, many researchers have explored the potential of relying on non-invasive means for the characterization of healthy and anomalous skin, such as bio-electrical impedance, machine learning-based image classification, and electromagnetismbased (EM-based) techniques to diagnose a variety of skin anomalies [13]- [23]. EM and bio-impedance techniques exploit the differences between the electrical properties of healthy and suspicious lesions (dielectric permittivity) which cause a notable difference in the magnitude and phase of the transmitted and reflected electrical signals.…”

Heterogeneous Skin Phantoms for Experimental Validation of Microwave-Based Diagnostic Tools

“…Over the past decade, microwave reflectometry techniques have been researched for diagnosis and early-stage characterization of malignancies such as subcutaneous masses, skin burn injuries and cancerous lesions in the brain, breast and skin [1][2][3][4][5]. In particular, we focus on techniques that exploit the reported inherent dielectric contrast of healthy and malignant tissues in the microwave frequency range [6,7] to identify cancerous lesions or anomalies.…”