Impact of rotational artefact removal on microwave breast images

Microwave breast imaging continues to be evaluated in clinical investigations, with many ongoing at the moment worldwide. A key technical challenge of the method involves removing or compensating for the large reflection from the skin which may be more than an order of magnitude larger than reflections from the interior. Despite showing promise in experimental and clinical trials, the fundamental basis of rotational artefact removal and the potential impact on the resultant image has not been examined in detail. In this work, numerical simulations are used to demonstrate that the angle of rotation chosen may impair the resultant image quality and tumour detection. These results suggest that further investigation of rotational artefact removal is necessary.