Title: Solutions to the inverse problem in a two-dimensional model for microwave breast tumour detection

Authors: G.G. Senaratne, Richard B. Keam, Winston L. Sweatman, Graeme C. Wake

Addresses: Institute of Information and Mathematical Sciences, Massey University, Private Bag 102 904, Auckland, New Zealand. ' Keam Holdem Associates Ltd., P.O. Box 408, Shortland Street, Auckland, New Zealand. ' Massey University, Private Bag 102 904, Auckland, New Zealand. ' Massey University, Private Bag 102 904, Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract: This paper presents an in vivo detection method to estimate the size and the position of a breast tumour using microwave frequencies. At these frequencies there is a significant difference in dielectric properties between a malignant tumour and healthy breast tissue. By considering these properties we solve the forward problem of the signal|s scattering effect for a two-dimensional breast model. We use Newton|s multidimensional iterative method to solve the inverse problem and compute the unknown location and size of the tumour. Our analytical study suggests that the approach will be capable of detecting a millimetre size tumour inside the breast. Due to the complex scattering from the non-homogeneous internal structure and other complications the microwave measurements can have errors. However, in tests, our algorithm can calculate tumour distance with 0.54% error when there is a 10% error in the value of the microwave field measurements.

Keywords: breast tumour; inverse problem; microwave detection; permittivity; tumour detection; in vivo detection; dielectric properties; breast cancer.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISTA.2007.014131

International Journal of Intelligent Systems Technologies and Applications, 2007 Vol.3 No.1/2, pp.133 - 148

Published online: 22 Jun 2007 *

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