Microwave Imaging For Breast Cancer Detection

Development of Microwave Imaging System for Early Stage Breast Cancer Screening in Women Even though breast cancer can strike at any age or gender, research has shown that adult women are more susceptible to the disease. According to reports published by Shaukat Khanum Memorial

Project Title

Microwave Imaging For Breast Cancer Detection

Project Area of Specialization

Wearables and Implantable

Project Summary

Development of Microwave Imaging System for Early Stage Breast Cancer Screening in Women

Even though breast cancer can strike at any age or gender, research has shown that adult women are more susceptible to the disease. According to reports published by Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Center (SKMCH&RC), there are 83,000 breast cancer cases in Pakistan annually and nearly 40,000 deaths occur as a result. Research studies also suggest that early detection of the tumor is instrumental in treating breast cancer. Currently, there are a number of techniques that are being used for cancer detection like Mammography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Ultrasound, Computerized Tomography (CT) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) but all these techniques have some disadvantages. For example, an MRI and mammography can cause ionization of body tissues and result in a high false positive rate while using an Ultrasound false detection can occur as it has low resolution and therefore differentiation between a malignant and benign tumor is not possible.

In order to increase the chances of early detection, this project is geared towards development of MWI system for early stage breast cancer screening in women, which is not only extremely precise but is also cost efficient and harmless. A complete MWI system includes a transmitting/receiving antenna to detect reflected signals from the 3D printed breast phantom which mimics the properties of actual body tissues and tumor, these reflected signals then processed by using an applied algorithm and an image of the tumor can be obtained. Same technique can be applicable on wearable antenna which can take direct measurements for tumor detection. Akram Medical Complex Lahore and Pink Ribbon Organization (the only breast-cancer NGO in Pakistan) are our medical industry partners in implementation, clinical trials and commercialization of this project. The results of our MWI system are a revolutionary step in the field of biomedical technology and will not only assist in breast cancer research but can be used as a preventive oncological measure with the potential to impact patient lives.

Project Objectives

The main objective of the research project is to create a microwave imaging system as a diagnostic technique in the detection of breast cancer.

1. To design and execute an MWI system for breast cancer detection.
2. To conduct pre-clinical trials on 3D printed breast phantom.
3. To create the feasibility of a detailed clinical study for breast cancer detection using our proposed microwave imaging system
4. To commercialize the MWI system on a large scale for easy use in clinics and hospitals.

Project Implementation Method

For the detection of tumors, our proposed antenna is calibrated to have high gains in order to penetrate through skin and detect tumorous growth. To achieve this purpose a Vivaldi antenna is specifically used and designed for high gain which can assist in meeting our primary aim of constructing an image of the precise location of the tumor in a breast phantom. As a result, the system will be capable of performing the following tasks:

1. Hardware structure capable of moving 360 degree around the breast phantom
2. A system that can transmit and receive reflected signals from tumor
3. Processing of reflected signals to construct image.

The main aim of the Microwave Imaging System or MWI is to identify the dielectric changes in the reflected signals due to the tumor. For this, we designed a hardware setup which would be capable of rotating the transmitting/receiving antenna around the phantom with a gap of 45 degree. An automated system would then keep track of each position of the rotating antenna. Vector Network Analyzer (VNA) would be used for receiving the data of reflected signals at these positions whereas to control the rotation of antennas, a stepper motor is used with Arduino Uno.

To exactly specify the location of antennas, we required two scans such that the second scan being at a rotated angle from the first scan would result in both scans having the same artefacts.  For the first scan, a command is sent from Arduino to LabVIEW to take the reflected signals from VNA and save them after which a command is sent to rotate the receiver antenna by the gap of 45 degree. This process continues until a 360 degree rotation is covered and the same process is done for the second scan.

After receiving the data, Microwave Radar-based Imaging Toolbox (MERIT) is used for further processing the image. Data from both scans which essentially have the same artefact can be removed by subtraction followed by applying an efficient algorithm. Due to a high contrast of dielectric properties of tumor from normal cells, the tumor location is highlighted in the image which can be easily distinguished from normal cells.

Benefits of the Project

1. According to the Pink Ribbon Organization, every ninth woman is at the risk of getting breast cancer in Pakistan. In most cases, the treatment of cancer is less effective due to late-stage diagnosis. The purpose of this project is to reduce the mortality rate significantly by diagnosing cancer at early stages.
2. It will be the first prototype of a complete MWI system for cancer detection in Pakistan.
3. Benefits of MWI are not only limited to biomedical diagnosis but they are also applicable in detecting buried devices.
4. It will increase the proficiency of the medical community in microwave diagnosis field.
5. Successful MWI system will attract the more investors for advancement of biomedical technology companies.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The main objective of this project is to build components of a complete prototype MWI system including

1. 3D Breast phantom to mimic the breast tissue and tumor properties 
2. Design of Vivaldi antenna for transmitting/receiving the microwaves breast tissues. Proposed design of antenna should be directive having HPBW of 60 degree with the bandwidth of 2-6 GHz and gain of 6.5 db. 
3. Hardware setup using LabVIEW and VNA to complete 360 degree rotation around phantom and store the reflected signals data.
4. Efficient imaging algorithm for Microwave imaging by using Microwave Radar based Imaging Toolbox (MERIT) to construct the image of tumor. 

Final Deliverable of the Project

HW/SW integrated system

Type of Industry

Medical , Health

Technologies

3D/4D Printing, Wearables and Implantables

Sustainable Development Goals

Good Health and Well-Being for People, Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com