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Microwave Imaging for Breast Cancer Detection

 

X-ray mammography is the most commonly used method for breast cancer detection.  X-ray mammography creates images of the density of breast tissues and these images are used to detect tumors.  According to the institute of medicine, X-ray mammography has been shown in clinical trials to reduce breast cancer deaths, but it is not perfect.  Routine screening in clinical trials resulted in a 25-30% decrease in breast cancer moratlity among women between the ages of 50 and 70.  A lesser benefit was seen among women aged 40‑49.  The benefit of screening mammography for women over 70 was more difficult to assess due to a lack of data [1].

 

“The immense burden of breast cancer and

the inherent limitations of mammography have

been the driving forces behind efforts to develop

technologies for the early detection of breast cancer.”

 

‑ Institute of Medicine

 

Microwave imaging is an alternative to X-ray mammography for breast cancer detection.  It relies, at microwave frequencies, on differences in permittivity and conductivity between malignant and normal tissues within the breast.  There are a number of microwave breast imaging methods developed by groups; in Canada at the University of Calgary, and in the United States, Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, and University of Wisconsin-Madison.  Current research is also underway at the Computational Electromagnetics Research Laboratory, McMaster University.

 

 

[1]        Mammography and Beyond: Developing Technologies for the Early

Detection of Breast Cancer, Washington, DC: Inst. Med. Nat.

Academy Press, 2001.

 

 

Research Labs

 

 

Computational Electromagnetics Research Laboratory

McMaster University

http://www.ece.mcmaster.ca/faculty/nikolova/cgi-bin/ceml.cgi?t=index

http://www.ece.mcmaster.ca/faculty/nikolova/

 

 

Biomedical Engineering at the University of Calgary

http://www.eng.ucalgary.ca/Biomedical/medical-imaging-microwave.htm

 

 

Thayer School of Engineering at DartmouthCollege – Research in Biomedical Imaging

http://engineering.dartmouth.edu/thayer/research/imaging.html

 

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Research in Biomedical Imaging

http://www.engr.wisc.edu/bme/research/#BiomedicalImaging

 

 

The GVU center @ Georgia Tech.

http://www-static.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/index.html

 

GVU Center: Biomedical imaging and Visualization

http://www-static.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/biovis/

 

The Mayo Clinic Biomedical Imaging Resource

http://www.mayo.edu/bir/

 

National Cancer Institute

http://www.cancer.gov/

 

American Cancer Society

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/home/index.asp

 

Cancer Facts and Figures for 2006

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/STT/content/STT_1x_Cancer_Facts__Figures_2006.asp

 

 

Publications Search

 

IEEE Xplore

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/dynhome.jsp

 

Physics in Medicine and Biology

http://www.iop.org/EJ/journal/0031-9155/1

 

The National Library of Medicine's Visible Human Project

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/research/visible/visible_human.html

 

 

On Causality

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/causation-process/

 

 

Teaching Assistant

 

I am Teaching Assistant for the following courses:

 

COE 4TL4: DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING

http://www.ece.mcmaster.ca/~jkzhang/Course%20Introduction.htm

 

ECE 3FI4: THEORY AND APPLICATIONS IN ELECTROMAGNETICS

http://www.ece.mcmaster.ca/faculty/nikolova/EM.htm

 

 

News

 

 

STOCKHOLM, Sweden Oct 2, 2006 (AP)— Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine Monday for discovering a powerful way to turn off the effect of specific genes, opening a new avenue for disease treatment.

 

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2006/index.html

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2006/index.html

 

 

HAMILTON (CBC) - In 2003, Michael DeGroote, the former CEO of Laidlaw Transport Ltd. donated an eye-opening $105 million to the medical school, transforming it into one of the best-endowed in North America. Degroote's gift was the largest single cash donation in Canadian history and the school was renamed in his honour.

 

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/wealth/charitable-donations.html

 

 

HAMILTON (McMaster Daily News) - McMaster University has been named one of the Top 100 universities in the world--one of only four Canadian universities to make the list, in the annual poll published by China's Shanghai Jiao Tong

University.

 

HAMILTON (McMaster Daily News) - A rare honour has been bestowed on Tamas Terlaky, professor of Computing and Software at McMaster. He has been awarded a University Professorship in the Faculty of Information Technology at the University of Pannonia in Veszprém, Hungary.

Terlaky was recently in Budapest to accept the appointment from Laszlo Solyom, President of Hungary, and Istvan Hiller, Minister of Culture and Education, at a ceremony held across from the Parliament Building.

http://dailynews.mcmaster.ca/story.cfm?id=4241

 

 

Online Science & Technology News Links:

 

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/

 

http://www.cnn.com/TECH/

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/default.stm

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032118/

 

http://www.wired.com/