The dielectric properties of normal and malignant breast tissue at microwave frequencies: analysis, conclusions, and implications from the wisconsin/calgary study

The clinical efficacy of emerging microwave breast cancer detection and hyperthermia treatment techniques (see [X. Li et al., 2005], [M. Converse et al., 2004] and references therein) depend on the microwave dielectric properties of normal, malignant, and benign breast tissues. Knowledge of these properties has been limited by gaps and discrepancies in previously published small-scale studies reporting the dielectric properties of normal and malignant breast tissues obtained from cancer surgeries [L. Sha et al., 2002]. To address these limitations, we have conducted a large-scale joint study at the Universities of Wisconsin and Calgary to experimentally characterize the wideband dielectric properties at microwave frequencies (from 0.5 to 20 GHz) of freshly excised normal, benign, and malignant breast tissues obtained from breast reduction as well as cancer surgeries. In our presentation, we will highlight the conclusions from all aspects of our completed study. Due to space limitations in this conference paper summary, here we focus on the results of a comparison of the dielectric properties of normal breast tissues obtained from both reduction and cancer surgeries.