Anatomical and Dielectric Tissue Mimicking Phantoms for Microwave Breast Imaging

Nowadays, the application of microwave imaging for breast cancer diagnosis has expanded as an alternative method to traditional mammography. In fact, the use of electromagnetic fields in the microwave range allows determining the dielectric contrast between healthy and malignant tissue for the detection of breast lesions. Special phantoms are used to evaluate the diagnostic capability of these devices. In this work, a prototype that replicates both the anatomy of the breast and its dielectric properties, has been designed. A heterogenous, multilayers, realistic phantom of the pathologic breast has been designed and realized by using inexpensive commercially available materials with low production costs. Furthermore, the preservation of the prototype without any means of degradation has been tested. All the samples have been electromagnetically characterized by means of an open-ended coaxial probe.