Sub-Millimeter Melanoma Skin Cancer Detection: Differentiating Between Healthy and Malignant Tissues Based on Local Specific Absorption Rate

This paper investigates the local specific absorption rate (SAR) of ultra-wideband millimeter-wave (mm-wave) double-ridge open-ended waveguide antennas (OEWA) for early-stage skin cancer detection. Specifically, an OEWA with a 15– 40-GHz bandwidth is designed and fabricated. The proposed antenna demonstrates |S
11
|<–10 dB and stable and symmetric radiation patterns across 15–40 GHz with aperture sizes of 9.47×5.79 mm
²
. A 3D realistic biological model consisting of skin, subcutaneous fat, and muscle is developed to evaluate the SAR in healthy and malignant lesions. The permittivity of the cancerous tissue was modeled according to a Debye function that took into account the higher water content of this tissue with respect to healthy skin.