Modeling and Imaging of Breast Using the Combined Effect of Microwave and Acoustic Pulses

A theoretical model for the biomechanical properties of breast tissues under the influence of acoustic signal is derived and validated. That model is employed in a microwave imaging method that aims at extracting the three-dimensional biomechanical properties of breast. The high contrast in the biomechanical properties between healthy and malignant tissues represents the basis of the presented imaging method. In this method, the breast is inserted in an enclosure that has an array of ultrawideband antennas embedded in the upper plate of the enclosure in addition to a wide-beam acoustic transducer. The transducer sends pulses of acoustic signals to ignite mechanical vibration in the tissues, whereas the antennas transmit ultrawideband pulses towards the breast and measure the backscattered pulses. A sliding-window cross-correlation is used between the received microwave pulses at the minimum and maximum values of the acoustic pulses to get a three dimensional strain image of the breast. As lesion tissue is much stiffer than normal breast tissues then regions of zero strain indicate areas of suspected tumor.