Manufacture and testing of anthropomorphic 3D-printed breast phantoms using a microwave radar algorithm optimized for propagation speed

Microwave imaging is a rapidly evolving modality. Microwave imaging systems have had clinical trials, but these typically require a lengthy regulatory approval process, numerous volunteers, and healthcare professionals. To allow for rapid yet realistic evaluation and refining of microwave imaging algorithms and systems, high-quality phantoms that mimic both the complex structure and dielectric properties of breast tissues are required. This work presents a design process that allows for breast phantoms to be modeled after MRI scans, along with a validation of the manufactured phantoms. The dielectric properties of the phantom materials were tested to ensure that they were similar to the properties of breast tissue. Breast Phantoms were 3D-printed using the extracted MRI data and were tested using a clinical breast microwave-radar imaging system. The collected data were reconstructed using a holography algorithm that compensated for tissue density changes by adjusting the propagation speed. The results confirmed the phantom construction and illustrated that the phantoms could be used to help test and improve breast microwave imaging systems.