Microwave imaging for the diagnosis of cervical diseases: a feasibility analysis

An inverse scattering method working at microwave frequencies for cervical diagnostics is proposed in this work. The aim is the diagnosis of cervical myelopathy, which is a disease that affects the first part of the spinal cord (between the C3 and C7 vertebra). A preliminary feasibility analysis oriented toward the development of an imaging system is reported. The system prototype includes a set of antennas that illuminate the neck and retrieve samples of the scattered electric field. The related inverse scattering problem is solved by using a nonlinear Newton-type reconstruction procedure, which provides two-dimensional images of the dielectric parameters of a neck cross section. A simplified cylindrical phantom mimicking the human neck has been designed for assessing the feasibility of the envisioned microwave measurement system and processing technique. Numerical results are reported to evaluate the capabilities of the proposed approach. Moreover, initial experimental results have been obtained by using cylindrical containers and a 3D printed version of the developed neck phantom.