Abstract
This paper addresses the changes in the physical characteristics (temperature and water/blood content) of breast tissue under different physiological conditions. We examined ex vivo specimens of breast tissue excised at the time of surgery to study the effects of physiological conditions on dielectric properties. We observed that the dielectric properties strongly depend on tissue physiological state. When the biological tissues undergo physiological changes, such as those due to disease or those induced by external changes such as variations in the environmental temperature, the microscopic processes deviate from their normal state and impact the overall dielectric properties. This suggests that microwave imaging might be used to monitor the physiological conditions of the body.
Highlights
In recent years microwave imaging (MWI) has attracted significant interest for biomedical applications
The goal of this paper is to demonstrate the significant changes in dielectric properties in the first few seconds after the excision of tissue. These changes are due to the effects of temperature and water content quickly after excision. We study these effects based on results of ex vivo breast tissue measurement
In order to characterize the dielectric properties of the ex vivo breast tissues based on the time of excision and temperature, different dielectric properties measurements from women undergoing breast surgery were performed at the Altru Hospital, Grand Forks, ND, USA
Summary
In recent years microwave imaging (MWI) has attracted significant interest for biomedical applications. The difference arises from molecular (dielectric) rather than atomic (density) based interactions of the microwave radiation with the target when compared with X-ray imaging These factors make microwaves suitable to be used for diagnosis in medicine, especially for the imaging of the biological structures which depend on the tissue’s dielectric properties, that is, the permittivity and the conductivity. Recent extensive characterization of the dielectric properties of different tissue types, including normal, malignant, and benign breast tissues obtained from breast reduction and cancer surgeries, in the frequency range of 0.5–20 GHz, has been performed by Lazebnik et al [8, 9]. In 2009, similar measurement was performed by Halter et al for in vivo tissues [12] They have investigated the dielectric properties of the breast tissues with and without tumour presence with steady physiological conditions. The sample tissues that were measured were from women undergoing surgery to exclude or treat breast cancer
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