Strain Imaging of Breast Using Ultra-Wideband Pulse

The initial results for using ultra wideband pulse to achieve strain imaging of breast are presented. In the proposed method, the breast is inserted between two horizontal plates. The upper plate, which includes an array of ultra wideband antennas, is attached to a pressing tool, whereas the lower plate is fixed. Each of the antennas at the top plate is used to send an ultra wideband pulse to penetrate the breast and measure the backscattered pulse. Two sets of measurements are taken; one before and another after pressing the breast. A sliding window cross-correlation is then performed on the two sets of data to get the time delay of each segment of the scattered pulse after compression. That time delay is then employed to get a three dimensional strain image of the breast. As the tumor is much stiffer than the other normal tissues of the breast then the region of zero strain, or zero deformation due to the compression by the upper plate, refers to a suspected tumor in the breast.