Microwave Tomography for Brain Imaging: Feasibility Assessment for Stroke Detection

There is a need for a medical imaging technology, that supplements currentclinical brain imaging techniques, for the near-patient and mobile assessment of cerebralvascular disease. Microwave tomography (MWT) is a novel imaging modality that hasthis potential. The aim of the study was to assess the feasibility, and potentialperformance characteristics, of MWT for brain imaging with particular focus on strokedetection. The study was conducted using MWT computer simulations and 2D headmodel with stroke. A nonlinear Newton reconstruction approach was used.The MWT imaging of deep brain tissues presents a significant challenge, as thebrain is an object of interest that is located inside a high dielectric contrast shield,comprising the skull and CSF. However, high performance, nonlinear MWT inversionmethods produced biologically meaningful images of the brain including images ofstroke. It is suggested that multifrequency MWT has the potential to significantlyimprove imaging results