Abstract
In this paper we consider radar approaches for breast cancer detection. The aim is to give a brief review of the main features of incoherent methods, based on beam-forming and Multiple SIgnal Classification (MUSIC) algorithms, that we have recently developed, and to compare them with classical coherent beam-forming. Those methods have the remarkable advantage of not requiring antenna characterization/compensation, which can be problematic in view of the close (to the breast) proximity set-up usually employed in breast imaging. Moreover, we proceed to an experimental validation of one of the incoherent methods, i.e., the I-MUSIC, using the multimodal breast phantom we have previously developed. While in a previous paper we focused on the phantom manufacture and characterization, here we are mainly concerned with providing the detail of the reconstruction algorithm, in particular for a new multi-step clutter rejection method that was employed and only barely described. In this regard, this contribution can be considered as a completion of our previous study. The experiments against the phantom show promising results and highlight the crucial role played by the clutter rejection procedure.
Highlights
Global statistics have demonstrated that breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed invasive cancer and the leading cause of death due to cancer among female patients [1]
The rationale under the following examples is to appreciate the role played by the various steps the clutter rejection method consists of as well as the number of frequencies to be employed in the reconstructions
Since I-Multiple SIgnal Classification (MUSIC) tends to peak at the centre of targets, this means that only time-gating data were not enough to detect the tumor as data still appeared as if produced by a target whose equivalent centre was roughly in the centre of the scene
Summary
Global statistics have demonstrated that breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed invasive cancer and the leading cause of death due to cancer among female patients [1]. As shown in [30,31], this drawback can be mitigated by employing non-coherent imaging strategies In particular in those papers we introduced and compared incoherent versions of beam-forming and MUSIC [32] (I-MUSIC) and showed that the performance remains stable by using different types of antennas they were non-characterized, i.e., their frequency responses were not estimated nor enclosed in the model upon which the algorithms were based. Another crucial aspect is the clutter that generally overwhelms the relatively weak signal coming from the cancer targets. This paper focuses more on the image process and can be considered as a companion paper of [33] which, instead, mainly considered the development of the breast phantom and its tissue characterization for different imaging modalities
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