Microwave imaging of the knee: Application to ligaments and tendons

In the past several years many research groups have investigated microwave imaging for breast cancer detection. Analysis of cardiac tissues, soft tissues and bones with microwave approaches has also been reported. Recently, the application of a radar-based microwave technique was proposed by the authors for the imaging of the knee joint, with focus on the detection of meniscal tears. Numerical and experimental results showed the potential of this method for the knee imaging. In this paper, the study of such potentiality of microwave imaging is extended to the ligaments and tendons of the joint. Further, a short analysis on the possible impact of the anisotropic properties of the involved tissues on the imaging is presented.