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Electromagnetic Imaging for a Novel Generation of Medical Devices

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A special issue of Diagnostics (ISSN 2075-4418). This special issue belongs to the section "Medical Imaging and Theranostics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 February 2021) | Viewed by 31355

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Dr. Panos Kosmas

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Guest Editor

Department of Engineering, King’s College London, London, UK
Interests: computational electrodynamics (FDTD); antennas and microwave engineering; physics-based signal processing; medical imaging
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Dr. Lorenzo Crocco

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IREA – Institute for Electromagnetic Sensing of the Environment, Via Diocleziano 328, 8014 Napoli, Italy
Interests: microwave imaging; noninvasive electromagnetic diagnostics; therapeutic applications of EM fields; forward and inverse electromagnetic scattering
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Prof. Dr. Francesca Vipiana

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Department of Electronics and Telecommunications, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy
Interests: computational electromagnetics; integral equations; method of moments; hierarchical preconditioning schemes; advanced quadrature integration schemes
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The application of microwave technologies in medical imaging and diagnostics is an emerging topic within the electromagnetic (EM) engineering community. Developments in hardware and algorithms are paving the way for a new generation of low-cost, portable, and accurate microwave imaging systems, which could tackle various current challenges in medical diagnostics. The Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action EMERALD is an important initiative in this research area, which brings together leading European engineering groups involved in EM technology for medical imaging. EMERALD’s aim is to form a cohort of highly skilled researchers capable of accelerating the translation of this technology “from research bench to patient bedside.”

The aim of this Special Issue is to showcase the depth and breadth of research within EMERALD towards developing novel EM medical diagnostics devices. To this end, the issue will solicit original articles from EMERALD’s consortium, which involves academic institutions, industrial partners, hospitals and university medical centers (as partner organizations). Moreover, the Special Issue welcomes review articles from world experts in this area outside of EMERALD, with the aim to provide an overview of complementary research in microwave medical imaging. These should be articles summarising research from groups and/or projects that have been active in this area for years, rather than new contributions.

Authors who are interested in submitting a paper and are not members of the EMERALD consortium should contact the Guest Editors for a discussion on their contribution.

Dr. Panos Kosmas
Dr. Francesca Vipiana
Dr. Lorenzo Crocco
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diagnostics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Medical imaging
Microwave theranostics
Electromagnetic imaging
Point-of-care diagnosis

Published Papers (11 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 27576 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Experimental Validation of a Microwave System for Brain Stroke 3-D Imaging

by David O. Rodriguez-Duarte, Jorge A. Tobon Vasquez, Rosa Scapaticci, Giovanna Turvani, Marta Cavagnaro, Mario R. Casu, Lorenzo Crocco and Francesca Vipiana

Diagnostics 2021, 11(7), 1232; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics11071232 - 08 Jul 2021

Cited by 29 | Viewed by 3310

Abstract

This paper experimentally validates the capability of a microwave prototype device to localize hemorrhages and ischemias within the brain as well as proposes an innovative calibration technique based on the measured data. In the reported experiments, a 3-D human-like head phantom is considered, where the brain is represented either with a homogeneous liquid mimicking brain dielectric properties or with ex vivo calf brains. The microwave imaging (MWI) system works at 1 GHz, and it is realized with a low-complexity architecture formed by an array of twenty-four printed monopole antennas. Each antenna is embedded into the “brick” of a semi-flexible dielectric matching medium, and it is positioned conformal to the head upper part. The imaging algorithm exploits a differential approach and provides 3-D images of the brain region. It employs the singular value decomposition of the discretized scattering operator obtained via accurate numerical models. The MWI system analysis shows promising reconstruction results and extends the device validation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electromagnetic Imaging for a Novel Generation of Medical Devices)

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17 pages, 3811 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Towards a Microwave Imaging System for Continuous Monitoring of Liver Tumor Ablation: Design and In Silico Validation of an Experimental Setup

by Mengchu Wang, Rosa Scapaticci, Marta Cavagnaro and Lorenzo Crocco

Diagnostics 2021, 11(5), 866; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics11050866 - 11 May 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 1957

Abstract

Liver cancer is one of the most common liver malignancies worldwide. Thermal ablation has been recognized as a promising method for its treatment, with a significant impact on clinical practice. However, the treatment’s effectiveness is heavily dependent on the experience of the clinician and would improve if paired with an image-guidance device for treatment monitoring. Conventional imaging modalities, such as computed tomography, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging, show some disadvantages, motivating interest in alternative technologies. In this framework, microwave imaging was recently proposed as a potential candidate, being capable of implementing real-time monitoring by means of low-cost and portable devices. In this work, the in silico assessment of a microwave imaging device specifically designed for liver ablation monitoring is presented. To this end, an imaging experiment involving eight Vivaldi antennas in an array configuration and a practically realizable liver phantom mimicking the evolving treatment was simulated. In particular, since the actual phantom will be realized by 3D printing technology, the effect of the plastic shells containing tissues mimicking materials was investigated and discussed. The outcomes of this study confirm that the presence of printing materials does not impair the significance of the experiments and that the designed device is capable of providing 3D images of the ablated region conveying information on its extent and evolution. Moreover, the observed results suggest possible improvements to the system, paving the way for the next stage in which the device will be implemented and experimentally assessed in the same conditions as those simulated in this study. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electromagnetic Imaging for a Novel Generation of Medical Devices)

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15 pages, 6154 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Quantitative Interpretation of UWB Radar Images for Non-Invasive Tissue Temperature Estimation during Hyperthermia

by Alexandra Prokhorova, Sebastian Ley and Marko Helbig

Diagnostics 2021, 11(5), 818; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics11050818 - 30 Apr 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2114

Abstract

The knowledge of temperature distribution inside the tissue to be treated is essential for patient safety, workflow and clinical outcomes of thermal therapies. Microwave imaging represents a promising approach for non-invasive tissue temperature monitoring during hyperthermia treatment. In the present paper, a methodology for quantitative non-invasive tissue temperature estimation based on ultra-wideband (UWB) radar imaging in the microwave frequency range is described. The capabilities of the proposed method are demonstrated by experiments with liquid phantoms and three-dimensional (3D) Delay-and-Sum beamforming algorithms. The results of our investigation show that the methodology can be applied for detection and estimation of the temperature induced dielectric properties change. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electromagnetic Imaging for a Novel Generation of Medical Devices)

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11 pages, 1796 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development of a Solid and Flexible Matching Medium for Microwave Medical Diagnostic Systems

by Amin Moradpour, Olympia Karadima, Ivan Alic, Mykolas Ragulskis, Ferry Kienberger and Panagiotis Kosmas

Diagnostics 2021, 11(3), 550; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics11030550 - 19 Mar 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2271

Abstract

This paper reports the development of a new composite material as a matching medium for medical microwave diagnostic systems, where maximizing the microwave energy that penetrates the interrogated tissue is critical for improving the quality of the diagnostic images. The proposed material has several advantages over what is commonly used in microwave diagnostic systems: it is semi-flexible and rigid, and it can maximize microwave energy coupling by matching the tissue’s dielectric constant without introducing high loss. The developed matching medium is a mirocomposite of barium titanate filler in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) in different weight-based mixing ratios. Dielectric properties of the material are measured using a Keysight open-ended coaxial slim probe from 0.5 to 10 GHz. To avoid systematic errors, a full dielectric properties calibration is performed before measurements of sample materials. Furthermore, the repeatability of the measurements and the homogeneity of the sample of interest are considered. Finally, to evaluate the proposed matching medium, its impact on a printed monopole antenna is studied. We demonstrate that the permittivity of the investigated mixtures can be increased in a controlled manner to reach values that have been previously shown to be optimal for medical microwave imaging (MWI) such as stroke and breast cancer diagnostic applications. As a result, the material is a good candidate for supporting antenna arrays designed for portable MWI scanners in applications such as stroke detection. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electromagnetic Imaging for a Novel Generation of Medical Devices)

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10 pages, 2360 KiB

Open AccessArticle

SAFE: A Novel Microwave Imaging System Design for Breast Cancer Screening and Early Detection—Clinical Evaluation

by Aleksandar Janjic, Mehmet Cayoren, Ibrahim Akduman, Tuba Yilmaz, Emre Onemli, Onur Bugdayci and Mustafa Erkin Aribal

Diagnostics 2021, 11(3), 533; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics11030533 - 16 Mar 2021

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 3834

Abstract

SAFE (Scan and Find Early) is a novel microwave imaging device intended for breast cancer screening and early detection. SAFE is based on the use of harmless electromagnetic waves and can provide relevant initial diagnostic information without resorting to X-rays. Because of SAFE’s harmless effect on organic tissue, imaging can be performed repeatedly. In addition, the scanning process itself is not painful since breast compression is not required. Because of the absence of physical compression, SAFE can also detect tumors that are close to the thoracic wall. A total number of 115 patients underwent the SAFE scanning procedure, and the resultant images were compared with available magnetic resonance (MR), ultrasound, and mammography images in order to determine the correct detection rate. A sensitivity of 63% was achieved. Breast size influenced overall sensitivity, as sensitivity was lower in smaller breasts (51%) compared to larger ones (74%). Even though this is only a preliminary study, the results show promising concordance with clinical reports, thus encouraging further SAFE clinical studies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electromagnetic Imaging for a Novel Generation of Medical Devices)

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15 pages, 7731 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Dielectric Properties of Ovine Heart at Microwave Frequencies

by Niko Ištuk, Emily Porter, Declan O’Loughlin, Barry McDermott, Adam Santorelli, Soroush Abedi, Nadine Joachimowicz, Hélène Roussel and Martin O’Halloran

Diagnostics 2021, 11(3), 531; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics11030531 - 16 Mar 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2354

Abstract

Accurate knowledge of the dielectric properties of biological tissues is important in dosimetry studies and for medical diagnostic, monitoring and therapeutic technologies. In particular, the dielectric properties of the heart are used in numerical simulations of radiofrequency and microwave heart ablation. In one recent study, it was demonstrated that the dielectric properties of different components of the heart can vary considerably, contrary to previous literature that treated the heart as a homogeneous organ with measurements that ignored the anatomical location. Therefore, in this study, we record and report the dielectric properties of the heart as a heterogeneous organ. We measured the dielectric properties at different locations inside and outside of the heart over the 500 MHz to 20 GHz frequency range. Different parts of the heart were identified based on the anatomy of the heart and their function; they include the epicardium, endocardium, myocardium, exterior and interior surfaces of atrial appendage, and the luminal surface of the great vessels. The measured dielectric properties for each part of the heart are reported at both a single frequency (2.4 GHz), which is of interest in microwave medical applications, and as parameters of a broadband Debye model. The results show that in terms of dielectric properties, different parts of the heart should not be considered the same, with more than 25% difference in dielectric properties between some parts. The specific Debye models and single frequency dielectric properties from this study can be used to develop more detailed models of the heart to be used in electromagnetic modeling. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electromagnetic Imaging for a Novel Generation of Medical Devices)

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10 pages, 2558 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Novel Approach on Microwave Hyperthermia

by Gulsah Altintas, Ibrahim Akduman, Aleksandar Janjic and Tuba Yilmaz

Diagnostics 2021, 11(3), 493; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics11030493 - 10 Mar 2021

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2649

Abstract

Microwave hyperthermia (MH) requires the selective focusing of microwave energy on the targeted region while minimally affecting the healthy tissue. Emerging from the simple nature of the linear antenna arrays, this work demonstrates focusing maps as an application guide for MH focusing by adjusting the antenna phase values. The focusing of the heating potential (HP) on different density breast models is performed via the proposed method using Vivaldi antennas. The effect of the tumor conductivity on the focusing is discussed. As a straightforward approach and utilizing the Vivaldi antennas, the system can be further combined with MH monitoring application. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electromagnetic Imaging for a Novel Generation of Medical Devices)

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17 pages, 2304 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Metasurface-Enhanced Antennas for Microwave Brain Imaging

by Eleonora Razzicchia, Pan Lu, Wei Guo, Olympia Karadima, Ioannis Sotiriou, Navid Ghavami, Efthymios Kallos, George Palikaras and Panagiotis Kosmas

Diagnostics 2021, 11(3), 424; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics11030424 - 03 Mar 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2833

Abstract

Stroke is a very frequent disorder and one of the major leading causes of death and disability worldwide. Timely detection of stroke is essential in order to select and perform the correct treatment strategy. Thus, the use of an efficient imaging method for an early diagnosis of this syndrome could result in an increased survival’s rate. Nowadays, microwave imaging (MWI) for brain stroke detection and classification has attracted growing interest due to its non-invasive and non-ionising properties. In this paper, we present a feasibility study with the goal of enhancing MWI for stroke detection using metasurface (MTS) loaded antennas. In particular, three MTS-enhanced antennas integrated in different brain scanners are presented. For the first two antennas, which operate in a coupling medium, we show experimental measurements on an elliptical brain-mimicking gel phantom including cylindrical targets representing the bleeding in haemorrhagic stroke (h-stroke) and the not oxygenated tissue in ischaemic stroke (i-stroke). The reconstructed images and transmission and reflection parameter plots show that the MTS loadings improve the performance of our imaging prototype. Specifically, the signal transmitted across our head model is indeed increased by several dB‘s over the desired frequency range of 0.5–2.0 GHz, and an improvement in the quality of the reconstructed images is shown when the MTS is incorporated in the system. We also present a detailed simulation study on the performance of a new printed square monopole antenna (PSMA) operating in air, enhanced by a MTS superstrate loading. In particular, our previous developed brain scanner operating in an infinite lossy matching medium is compared to two tomographic systems operating in air: an 8-PSMA system and an 8-MTS-enhanced PSMA system. Our results show that our MTS superstrate enhances the antennas’ return loss by around 5 dB and increases the signal difference due to the presence of a blood-mimicking target up to 25 dB, which leads to more accurate reconstructions. In conclusion, MTS structures may be a significant hardware advancement towards the development of functional and ergonomic MWI scanners for stroke detection. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electromagnetic Imaging for a Novel Generation of Medical Devices)

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15 pages, 3701 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Simulation-Based Methodology of Developing 3D Printed Anthropomorphic Phantoms for Microwave Imaging Systems

by Soroush Abedi, Nadine Joachimowicz, Nicolas Phillips and Hélène Roussel

Diagnostics 2021, 11(2), 376; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics11020376 - 22 Feb 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2406

Abstract

This work is devoted to the development and manufacturing of realistic benchmark phantoms to evaluate the performance of microwave imaging devices. The 3D (3 dimensional) printed phantoms contain several cavities, designed to be filled with liquid solutions that mimic biological tissues in terms of complex permittivity over a wide frequency range. Numerical versions (stereolithography (STL) format files) of these phantoms were used to perform simulations to investigate experimental parameters. The purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, a general methodology for the development of a biological phantom is presented. Second, this approach is applied to the particular case of the experimental device developed by the Department of Electronics and Telecommunications at Politecnico di Torino (POLITO) that currently uses a homogeneous version of the head phantom considered in this paper. Numerical versions of the introduced inhomogeneous head phantoms were used to evaluate the effect of various parameters related to their development, such as the permittivity of the equivalent biological tissue, coupling medium, thickness and nature of the phantom walls, and number of compartments. To shed light on the effects of blood circulation on the recognition of a randomly shaped stroke, a numerical brain model including blood vessels was considered. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electromagnetic Imaging for a Novel Generation of Medical Devices)

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19 pages, 4356 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Towards Accurate Microwave Characterization of Tissues: Sensing Depth Analysis of Open-Ended Coaxial Probes with Ex Vivo Rat Breast and Skin Tissues

by Cemanur Aydinalp, Sulayman Joof and Tuba Yilmaz

Diagnostics 2021, 11(2), 338; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics11020338 - 18 Feb 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3028

Abstract

Dielectric properties of biological materials are commonly characterized with open-ended coaxial probes due to the broadband and non-destructive measurement capabilities. Recently, potential diagnostics applications of the technique have been investigated. Although the technique can successfully classify the tissues with different dielectric properties, the classification accuracy can be improved for tissues with similar dielectric properties. Increase in classification accuracy can be achieved by addressing the error sources. One well-known error source contributing to low measurement accuracy is tissue heterogeneity. To mitigate this error source, there is a need define the probe sensing depth. Such knowledge can enable application-specific probe selection or design. The sensing depth can also be used as an input to the classification algorithms which can potentially improve the tissue classification accuracy. Towards this goal, this work investigates the sensing depth of a commercially available 2.2 mm aperture diameter probe with double-layered configurations using ex vivo rat breast and skin tissues. It was concluded that the dielectric property contrast between the heterogeneous tissue components has an effect on the sensing depth. Also, a membrane layer (between 0.4–0.8 mm thickness) on the rat wet skin tissue and breast tissue will potentially affect the dielectric property measurement results by 52% to 84%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electromagnetic Imaging for a Novel Generation of Medical Devices)

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15 pages, 3524 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Passive Microwave Radiometry for the Diagnosis of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Lung Complications in Kyrgyzstan

by Batyr Osmonov, Lev Ovchinnikov, Christopher Galazis, Berik Emilov, Mustafa Karaibragimov, Meder Seitov, Sergey Vesnin, Alexander Losev, Vladislav Levshinskii, Illarion Popov, Chingiz Mustafin, Turat Kasymbekov and Igor Goryanin

Diagnostics 2021, 11(2), 259; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics11020259 - 07 Feb 2021

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2822

Abstract

The global spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), could be due to limited access to diagnostic tests and equipment. Currently, most diagnoses use the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and chest computed tomography (CT). However, challenges exist with CT use due to infection control, lack of CT availability in low- and middle-income countries, and low RT-PCR sensitivity. Passive microwave radiometry (MWR), a cheap, non-radioactive, and portable technology, has been used for cancer and other diseases’ diagnoses. Here, we tested MWR use first time for the early diagnosis of pulmonary COVID-19 complications in a cross-sectional controlled trial in order to evaluate MWR use in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 pneumonia and healthy individuals. We measured the skin and internal temperature using 30 points identified on the body, for both lungs. Pneumonia and lung damage were diagnosed by both CT scan and doctors’ diagnoses (pneumonia+/pneumonia−). COVID-19 was determined by RT-PCR (covid+/covid−). The best MWR results were obtained for the pneumonia−/covid− and pneumonia+/covid+ groups. The study suggests that MWR could be used for diagnosing pneumonia in COVID-19 patients. Since MWR is inexpensive, its use will ease the financial burden for both patients and countries. Clinical Trial Number: NCT04568525. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Electromagnetic Imaging for a Novel Generation of Medical Devices)

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