Hybrid Imaging Method for Early Breast Cancer Dtection

A theoretical model is presented to investigate the possibility of using a hybrid imaging method for early breast cancer detection. It uses the combined microwave and acoustic excitations to exploit contrasts in both the dielectric and elastic properties of malignant and normal breast tissues. The calculated results presented in this paper show that value of the scattering contrast between the malignant and healthy tissues is increased significantly when using the proposed hybrid method, which means an increase in the detection capability of the imaging system.