A Machine Learning Workflow for Tumour Detection in Breasts Using 3D Microwave Imaging

Microwave Breast Sensing via Deep Learning for Tumor Spatial Localization by Probability Maps

BACKGROUND

microwave imaging (MWI) has emerged as a promising modality for breast cancer screening, offering cost-effective, rapid, safe and comfortable exams. However, the practical application of MWI for tumor detection and localization is hampered by its inherent low resolution and low detection capability.

METHODS

this study aims to generate an accurate tumor probability map directly from the scattering matrix. This direct conversion makes the probability map independent of specific image formation techniques and thus potentially complementary to any image formation technique. An approach based on a convolutional neural network (CNN) is used to convert the scattering matrix into a tumor probability map. The proposed deep learning model is trained using a large realistic numerical dataset of two-dimensional (2D) breast slices. The performance of the model is assessed through visual inspection and quantitative measures to assess the predictive quality at various levels of detail.

RESULTS

the results demonstrate a remarkably high accuracy (0.9995) in classifying profiles as healthy or diseased, and exhibit the model's ability to accurately locate the core of a single tumor (within 0.9 cm for most cases).

CONCLUSION

overall, this research demonstrates that an approach based on neural networks (NN) for direct conversion from scattering matrices to tumor probability maps holds promise in advancing state-of-the-art tumor detection algorithms in the MWI domain.

Holographic Microwave Image Classification Using a Convolutional Neural Network

Holographic microwave imaging (HMI) has been proposed for early breast cancer diagnosis. Automatically classifying benign and malignant tumors in microwave images is challenging. Convolutional neural networks (CNN) have demonstrated excellent image classification and tumor detection performance. This study investigates the feasibility of using the CNN architecture to identify and classify HMI images. A modified AlexNet with transfer learning was investigated to automatically identify, classify, and quantify four and five different HMI breast images. Various pre-trained networks, including ResNet18, GoogLeNet, ResNet101, VGG19, ResNet50, DenseNet201, SqueezeNet, Inception v3, AlexNet, and Inception-ResNet-v2, were investigated to evaluate the proposed network. The proposed network achieved high classification accuracy using small training datasets (966 images) and fast training times.

Microwave Imaging for Early Breast Cancer Detection: Current State, Challenges, and Future Directions

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer type and is the leading cause of cancer-related death among females worldwide. Breast screening and early detection are currently the most successful approaches for the management and treatment of this disease. Several imaging modalities are currently utilized for detecting breast cancer, of which microwave imaging (MWI) is gaining quite a lot of attention as a promising diagnostic tool for early breast cancer detection. MWI is a noninvasive, relatively inexpensive, fast, convenient, and safe screening tool. The purpose of this paper is to provide an up-to-date survey of the principles, developments, and current research status of MWI for breast cancer detection. This paper is structured into two sections; the first is an overview of current MWI techniques used for detecting breast cancer, followed by an explanation of the working principle behind MWI and its various types, namely, microwave tomography and radar-based imaging. In the second section, a review of the initial experiments along with more recent studies on the use of MWI for breast cancer detection is presented. Furthermore, the paper summarizes the challenges facing MWI as a breast cancer detection tool and provides future research directions. On the whole, MWI has proven its potential as a screening tool for breast cancer detection, both as a standalone or complementary technique. However, there are a few challenges that need to be addressed to unlock the full potential of this imaging modality and translate it to clinical settings.