Diagnosis of malignant melanoma by micromachined near-field millimeter-wave probe

A micromachined millimeter-wave probe, optimized for early-stage skin tumor diagnosis has been verified using a murine skin cancer model. Malignant melanoma tumors are clearly distinguishable from surrounding healthy tissue, since the difference in S
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between a malignant melanoma skin tumor and surrounding healthy tissue is 6.7 times larger than typical standard deviations of measurements on the same spot. Furthermore, the probe has an 8 times higher selectivity to a tumor growing in the skin close to the surface as compared to a subcutaneous tumor buried beneath a thick healthy tissue layer. This confirms the optimized sensitivity of the probe to the targeted upper portion of the skin, in which skin tumor growth starts in malignant melanoma patients.