Cross-Correlation of Confocal Images for Excised Breast Tissues of Total Mastectomy

• Published in: IEEE transactions on biomedical engineering Vol. 71; no. 5; pp. 1705 - 1716
• Main Authors: Song, Hang, Sasada, Shinsuke, Kadoya, Takayuki, Arihiro, Koji, Okada, Morihito, Xiao, Xia, Ishikawa, Tomomi, O'Loughlin, Declan, Takada, Jun-ichi, Kikkawa, Takamaro
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States IEEE 01.05.2024; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Algorithms; Antenna measurements; Antennas; Biomedical measurement; Breast; Breast - diagnostic imaging; Breast - surgery; breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Breast Neoplasms - surgery; Breasts; confocal imaging; Correlation; Correlation analysis; Cross correlation; Density; Detectors; Female; Humans; Image reconstruction; Imaging; Mastectomy; Mastectomy - methods; Maxima; Medical imaging; Microscopy, Confocal - methods; Microwave Imaging; Middle Aged; Permittivity; Radar; Radar imaging; Semiconductor device measurement; Sensitivity; Sensitivity and Specificity; Tissue
• ISSN: 0018-9294; 1558-2531
• DOI: 10.1109/TBME.2023.3348480

Object: The purpose of this study is to develop an image artifact removal method for radar-based microwave breast imaging and demonstrates the detectability on excised breast tissues of total mastectomy. Methods: A cross-correlation method was proposed and measurements were conducted. A hand-held radar-based breast cancer detector was utilized to measure a breast at different orientations. Images were generated by multiplying the confocal image data from two scans after cross-correlation. The optimum reconstruction permittivity values were extracted by the local maxima of the confocal image intensity as a function of reconstruction permittivity. Results: With the proposed cross-correlation method, the contrast of the imaging result was enhanced and the clutters were removed. The proposed method was applied to 50 cases of excised breast tissues and the detection sensitivity of 72% was achieved. With the limited number of samples, the dependency of detection sensitivity on the breast size, breast density, and tumor size were examined. Conclusion and Significance: The detection sensitivity was strongly influenced by the breast density. The sensitivity was high for fatty breasts, whereas the sensitivity was low for heterogeneously dense breasts. In addition, it was observed that the sensitivity was high for extremely dense breast. This is the first detailed report on the excised breast tissues.