Experimental phantom for contrast enhanced microwave breast cancer detection based on 3D-printing technology

Rapid-prototyping techniques have been used in the past few years to create experimental phantoms for microwave breast cancer detection. After a literature review on existing phantom designs this paper introduces an advanced experimental model which allows for contrast enhanced microwave imaging within a hemispherical multistatic antenna arrangement. The proposed phantom is based on 3D printing technology and consists of geometric inclusions of different sizes which can be filled with tissue-mimicking liquids of varying dielectric contrast. This work is a step forward towards the development of standard breast phantoms that are already available for other modalities for medical diagnostics such as breast ultrasound, MRI etc.