Development of MRI‐based axillary numerical models and estimation of axillary lymph node dielectric properties for microwave imaging
Godinho, D.
;
Felício, J. M.
; Castela, T.
; Silva, N.
; Orvalho, M.
;
Fernandes, C. A.
; Conceição, R.
Medical Physics Vol. 48, Nº 10, pp. 5974 - 5990, August, 2021.
ISSN (print): 0094-2405
ISSN (online):
Scimago Journal Ranking: 1,17 (in 2021)
Digital Object Identifier: 10.1002/mp.15143
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Abstract
Microwave Imaging (MWI) has been studied as a complementary imaging modality to improve sensitivity and specificity of diagnosis of Axillary Lymph Nodes (ALNs), which can be metastasised by breast cancer. The feasibility of such a system is based on the dielectric contrast between healthy and metastasised ALNs. However, reliable information such as anatomically realistic numerical models and matching dielectric properties of the axillary region and ALNs, which are crucial to develop MWI systems, are still limited in the literature. The purpose of this work is to develop a methodology to infer dielectric properties of structures from Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) images, in particular, ALNs. We further use this methodology, which is tailored for structures farther away from MR coils, to create MRI-based numerical models of the axillary region and share them with the scientific community, through an open-access repository.