A BIMODAL RECONSTRUCTION METHOD FOR BREAST CANCER IMAGING

Breast Microwave Radar (BMR) has been proposed as an alternative modality for breast imaging. This technology forms a reflectivity map of the breast region by illuminating the scan area using ultra wide band microwave waveforms and recording the reflections from the breast structures. Nevertheless, BMR images require to be interpreted by an experienced practitioner since the location and density of the breast region can make the detection of malignant lesions a difficult task. In this paper, a novel bimodal breast imaging reconstruction method based on the use of BMR and Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) is proposed. This technique forms an estimate of the breast region impedance map using its corresponding BMR image. This estimate is used to initialize an EIT reconstruction method based on the monotonicity principle. The proposed method yielded promising results when applied to MRI-derived numeric breast phantoms.