MR/Microwave Tomography Integrated Breast Cancer Imaging

We are developing a new, compact microwave breast imaging tank that will allow us to acquire data from the patients' breasts while simultaneously being imaged in an MR system. Compatibility issues regarding mutual disruption of the MR and microwave images have been addressed and the microwave tank has been sufficiently reduced in size to allow a modestly sized woman to fit inside the MR bore with the tank. A custom MR coil has been integrated into the tank to minimize the space it requires while also increasing the MR SNR by a factor of 3. We present images of an initial experiment where the object is a realistic breast phantom with a spherical tumor inclusion. The microwave images are generated while incorporating the spatial information from the MR scans. The initial results are promising as we prepare for initial clinical use.